Running out of Time
by tpt player 5701
Summary: Sequel to "Mind Games." Adrien and Marinette whipped around to see who had just spoken. Adrien's jaw dropped open in shock when he saw the newcomer. "Chloe?" Marinette whispered. "Hi, Mar," the newcomer said. "It's been so long. I need your help." "You're from the future? Can't you ask future-us?" "That's the thing. In my time, you're dead, and you're the problem."
1. Chapter 1

_AN: This takes place a couple months after the defeat of Hawk Moth in "Mind Games." However, a couple of chapters jump to an (alternate) future timeline, which gets explained later. I'd suggest reading "Milady" and "Mind Games" first, but here's the quick recap if you need it:_

_Adrien and Marinette found out each other's identities in "Milady" when Hawk Moth crashed a dinner date. Marinette stopped stuttering around Adrien after performing emergency surgery on him (for which she had to cut all of his clothes off – hard to feel embarrassed by _anything_ after that!) while he was bleeding out on her bed. They started dating. Then in "Mind Games" they and their friends defeated Hawk Moth and Mayura and reclaimed their miraculous. Now the miraculous holders are continuing to fight crime as the Heroes of Paris._

_As an aside, I finally watched the second half of season three and… it was good but not great. Some of the episodes were great ("Ikari Gozen," "Battle for the Miraculous," among others). I'm still annoyed that they can't just air episodes in order, since the release order introduces the new heroes before they first receive their Miraculous. This also means some of the Season 3B episodes _do_ take place before "Milady" diverges from the show, but others don't. Also, if anyone wonders why my characterization of Chloe is vastly different from "Miracle Queen," it's pretty simple: "Milady" diverges from the series before Chloe has a chance to get truly bitter at Ladybug, meaning that she didn't fall nearly as far and thus didn't have to climb back nearly as much._

_Replies to reviews of the last chapter of "Bugs Have to Stick Together":_

_To Speckleflower: I'm guessing that Hawk Moth doesn't let Nooroo eat quite as much as Marinette and Adrien do for their Kwamis, but that was more about the banter between the three girls!_

_To anonymousfriend27: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed this! If this was your first introduction to my stories, I hope you go back to read everything that came between!_

* * *

**Present Day**

Adrien slowly pulled open the roof hatch to Marinette's bedroom, careful not to make any noise. He didn't want to wake her up at 6 in the morning; to be honest, he wasn't even supposed to be at her house that morning. He'd just finished his patrol with Ryoku and been on his way back to the mansion when he'd seen the bakery and felt an overwhelming urge to look in on his Lady.

Adrien slipped through the hatch as quietly as he could. Marinette was fast asleep, Tikki lying on a small shelf next to the bed. Adrien carefully climbed down onto Marinette's bed, knelt, and kissed her on the forehead. Marinette gave a little hum and smiled slightly, but didn't wake up. Adrien smiled to himself and quietly climbed down from her bed, stretching his sore back muscles as he did so.

Adrien was just about to transform again and slip out Marinette's window when the hatch in the floor opened up and Mme Cheng stuck her head through.

"Marin—" she started, then stopped when she caught sight of Adrien. "Oh, good morning, Adrien. I didn't realize you were here. You must have snuck in quiet as a cat!" Her eyes twinkled.

Adrien's heart stopped beating for a moment at her last comment, his eyes widening, before catching himself and forcing his expression to return to neutral. Why did Marinette's mother make a cat reference? About _him_?

If she had noticed his reaction, Mme Cheng chose not to comment on it. Instead she said, "I was just going to wake her up, but if you can do that, I'll set another place at the table for breakfast. Tom is making those sausage and egg pastries you love so much!"

"Thank you, Mme Cheng," Adrien managed to get out, just before her head disappeared through the hatch and she closed it behind her.

Adrien knew that Marinette's parents liked him; M. Dupain had made it clear the moment that Mme Cheng insisted on fixing up one of their guest rooms for him to use permanently.

When he had first asked Adrien to step into the living room with him for a private conversation, Adrien had been afraid he was in trouble. It was nothing Marinette's parents had done; the moment Marinette had brought him home the morning after his father's arrest, they had literally embraced him with open arms and made him feel like a member of their family. At the same time, however, he knew from personal experience just how protective M. Dupain could be of his only daughter: some of the bruises Weredad had left after that disastrous first date had taken weeks to fade; the memory itself _still_ had not faded. However, that had been far from M. Dupain's mind.

"I see the way my daughter looks at you, son," M. Dupain had told him, putting a massive hand on Adrien's shoulder and looking him straight in the eye. Adrien's eyes had watered at the seriousness in his mien. "You are a good young man, and I trust you with her. Do you hear me? I trust you with my daughter. One day, I hope you have a daughter of your own so you fully understand just what that means. All I ask of you is that you prove yourself worthy of that trust. Earn the way she looks at you."

At the time, Adrien had almost commented that, "I'm pretty sure that saving her from Akuma attacks on a semi-regular basis for the last two years should count," but he'd known that was not what M. Dupain had in mind.

Now, however, he wondered if maybe M. Dupain had already known. _But when would they have found out? _How_ would they have found out?_

With a shrug, Adrien climbed back up the ladder, crawled to the head of the bed, and pushed a strand of Marinette's hair back. "Milady," he whispered, kissing her forehead softly.

"Mmm," she mumbled, opening her eyes fractionally and looking up at him. Her expression changed to surprise, confusion, and then fear as she caught sight of his face inches from her own. "Adrien?"

"'Morning, Bugaboo," he said, grinning.

"What are you _doing_ here?" she asked, sitting up and blushing slightly.

Adrien leaned back against the wall and shifted as she turned to sit next to him. He pulled a small miraculous box out of his pocket and told her, "I just finished my patrol with Kagami and wanted to stop in and see you. I hope that's okay."

"What if my parents catch you? How would you explain that?" she asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

"Um, your mother actually _did_ catch me when I was just about to leave," he answered, grimacing. "She seemed cool with it for some reason. She just said to wake you up and invited me to stay for breakfast."

"I'm telling you, it's not normal how much my parents like you," Marinette grumbled, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Adrien debated telling her what her mother had said, but decided against it. It wasn't his place.

"So how was patrol tonight?" Marinette asked him, smiling as she leaned against his shoulder.

"Quiet," Adrien replied. "No sign of that jewelry store crew that KM and Rena Rouge encountered last week. Kagami and I just spent half the night fencing at the Champ de Mars."

"Sounds like fun."

"Actually it was, but Kagami's still a little better than I am." Adrien winced, reaching to feel his back. "She got me a few times pretty hard; good thing it was just the flat of the blade. The only reason I don't have more bruises is because she's still not used to her sword and I've had years to practice fencing with my staff!"

Marinette pushed Adrien to lean forward, away from the wall, and started rubbing his back. Adrien closed his eyes as he felt her fingers massaging away the tension and stiffness in his muscles. "So did you win?"

"At least a couple of rounds," Adrien answered, chuckling. "But I think Kagami figured out who I am." Marinette's fingers stopped moving. "I used the same feint tonight that I used on her in practice last week. She gave me a look afterward but didn't comment on it."

Marinette resumed her ministrations. Finally she said, "We figured it was only a matter of time before the new recruits figured out you were a hero. Our headquarters is under your mansion, after all, so the first time we bring them there, they'll know you have a connection. I guess it's not the worst thing for her to learn it now."

Adrien nodded in agreement. "Thanks," he said, rolling his neck in a circle and moving toward the ladder. "I definitely needed that. We'd better get moving before your mother gets worried."

Adrien climbed down to "his" room to change into fresh clothes while Marinette showered and dressed. After changing he called Gorilla to let him know to pick him up from the bakery. Then he went downstairs to find M. and Mme Dupain-Cheng talking in the kitchen. They fell silent when he entered the room, and M. Dupain greeted him loudly. "Adrien! Good morning, son."

"Good morning, sir," Adrien answered, going over and pouring himself a cup of coffee. "I hope I'm not imposing."

M. Dupain dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand. "Certainly not! I always have more than enough. You're always welcome in my house."

Adrien sat down at the table, helping himself to a pastry as he did so. He ate contentedly as M. and Mme Dupain-Cheng moved around the kitchen, M. Dupain cleaning up the breakfast dishes while Mme Cheng frosted a batch of cupcakes for that morning's display. Marinette came down a few minutes later, taking her accustomed seat next to Adrien and reaching for a pastry of her own. Adrien smiled at the domestic scene around him. It was something he'd never experienced at home. His parents had loved each other, of course, but his father had never been very good at displaying his feelings. And the mansion's kitchen was mostly off-limits; they hired world-class chefs for that. The closest to this scene that he could remember was the day his mother made cookies with him. She wasn't much of a baker, and they'd gotten more batter on the floor than the baking sheet, but it was still one of his favorite memories.

He sensed Marinette's eyes on him, and gave her a reassuring smile before glancing at the clock to see that they only had 20 minutes before school would start. Adrien stuffed the rest of his pastry in his mouth and pointed out the time to Marinette. Marinette jumped up, grabbed her bag, and ran for the door.

"We'll be late!" she squealed. "Bye, Mama, Papa! We'll see you at lunch!"

Adrien grinned as he followed Marinette out the door, thanking M. Dupain for breakfast as the door closed behind him. There was a twinkle in M. Dupain's eye as he waved them off and turned back to check on the bread in the big bakery oven.

"What's Gorilla doing here?" Marinette asked, pointing at the car.

"I need to pick up a couple things at the office before school," He told her. "Want to tag along?"

Marinette shrugged, so Adrien opened the car door for her to get in and slid in after her. He smiled to Gorilla in the front seat, who gave him a grunt of acknowledgement and pulled away from the curb. The car merged into traffic and started toward the building housing Agreste's offices, which was on the other side of the business district.

"Do you have to go back after school?" Marinette asked, leaning against Adrien.

Adrien wrapped his arm around her. "Not today," he answered, rubbing her shoulder absentmindedly. "Our managers are doing fine on their own and there's nothing pressing that I need to handle at the moment. Besides, we've got homework."

Marinette was about to respond when both their phones vibrated simultaneously. Adrien withdrew his hand and pulled out his phone at the same time Marinette did the same.

The moment he saw the sender, Adrien looked up at Gorilla and said, "I think we'll have to do this after school. Can you drop us off at the end of the block?"

Gorilla gave him a confused look but nodded and pulled over. Adrien opened the car door and slid out of, holding it open for Marinette to follow. Hand-in-hand they crossed the street and ducked down an alleyway.

"I guess you're going to be late again," Tikki commented, poking her head out of Marinette's purse.

"It's a pity these robbers can't work around our school schedule," Adrien joked. "Plagg, claws out!"


	2. Chapter 2

_To The Keeper of Worlds, Speckleflower, et al.: I hope this doesn't disappoint! There won't be as long of a wait for the next story after this one is finished._

_To Toshiro of the Eternal Dream: Thanks! The beginning was the hardest part of this story to write, specifically figuring out how to set the scene in both the present (next chapter) and the future/alternate reality (this chapter). I had an idea for how to do it, but everything about it felt too weak and slow – too much time on the present, too much "telling" about the future – so I completely reworked the first third or so._

_To anonymousfriend27: Wow. I'm glad my story was so meaningful for you! Welcome!_

_To ELinkA: This story is completely written; I always write the story entirely, give it a couple of days, edit it (again), and then start uploading. I'm actually halfway through writing the next story, which will pick up after "Tit for Tat" and focus on Alya and Nino. And I've got a few One-Shots written for an anthology story to fill in the time between "Running out of Time" and "Tit for Tat." And I've got a couple chapters written for the next 2 stories after that. This story took so long to write that now the floodgates are pretty much opening as far as publishing new stories…_

* * *

**Eight years in the future**

Marinette woke up to what felt like a vivid dream and snuggled deeper into the arms wrapped around her. "Hmm…" she mumbled, keeping her eyes closed. The arms squeezed her gently. "This is nice."

"It is purr-etty nice, isn't it?"

Marinette's eyes shot open as she pushed herself up to stare at Adrien, who grinned at the surprised expression on her face. "Wait, weren't you supposed to be on duty last night?" She gave him a teasing eyebrow raise. "What's Iron Maiden going to think about you ditching her for your 'other woman'?"

Adrien sat up and put a finger to his chin dramatically. "You know, I hadn't thought of that." He reached for his phone. "Actually, if you really want to know, here's _exactly_ what she thinks of that!"

He pressed play on a holographic message and held the phone level for Marinette to watch. The holographic projectors activated and slowly formed into a clear image. She saw a young woman with bright pink pixie-cut hair wearing a suit of streamlined silver-and-gold battle armor and holding a helmet under her arm. "Hey, LB!" she said, grinning cheekily. "If you're watching this, I take it your stray cat made it home all right last night. I'm sure you want to know _why_ he left, and it's pretty simple: I told him that if he let you wake up alone in an empty bed on your wedding anniversary, I would personally use him as a Guinea Cat for my new Miraculous-Buster Missiles!"

"So did you leave her alone, then?" Marinette asked, turning to Adrien accusingly. He simply grinned and nodded back at the phone.

"And don't worry about me all alone out here on duty on this cold July night; I called Volpinax and he was happy to fill in."

The image shifted outward to show a lithe orange-furred humanoid with pointed ears standing next to her, who waved. "I was getting kind of bored just hiding out in the Ardennes all the time, anyways," the alien interjected with a shrug. "Nothing to do but watch Netflix and stalk squirrels… you humans are so _primitive_! So unrefined in your views of non-humans…"

Iron Maiden smiled and added. "So you just enjoy you anniversary, mmkay, Bugsy? Bye!"

"See," Adrien grinned, ending the playback, "it was purely for my own self-preservation!"

"My hero," Marinette observed, arching an eyebrow at him. She smirked, pushed him back down onto the bed, and hugged him tightly. "Two years… And to think it almost didn't happen."

"Please, as if a little thing like the Shunjar Empire invading _Earth_ was going to get in the way of us spending the rest of our lives together!" Adrien chuckled, running a hand through her hair. "I would have gotten Sabrina to give me the ability to breath and move in space and then flown up there by myself and Cataclysmed their entire invading force apart before I let them lay a finger on you."

"Well, I don't think they going to _prevent_ us spending the rest of our lives together, though I think they were trying to _accelerate_ it!" Marinette giggled. "But that's not what I had in mind."

Adrien furrowed his brow for a moment in thought before groaning and smacking the back of his head against the headboard. "Don't tell me you're thinking of that crazy wannabe witch who accidentally buried Paris in cottage cheese an hour before the wedding started!"

"That's the one," Marinette said, poking him in the chest affectionately. "What did she call herself?"

"The 'Milk Maidge,'" he answered, rolling his eyes. "A stupid name for a stupid wannabe villain. She wasn't exactly the sharpest pencil in the box. She never even explained what she was trying to accomplish! I don't know what she expected to happen, but practically every hero in Europe and about three-fourths of the rest of the world's hero population appearing 3 minutes after she started her monologue probably was _not_ part of her plan!"

"You're assuming she even _had_ a plan," Marinette laughed. "It's a good thing Alya was back by then; it would have been hard to explain our entire wedding party and most of the guests disappearing just before we all showed up for that Milk Maidge fight!"

"Yeah, your mother wasn't too happy, though, remember? She didn't think it would count if we were just Mirages for the entire ceremony."

"It all worked out, and anyways, it's not like I could just leave the city covered in cheese! She'd turned the Eiffel Tower into _Camembert_!" Marinette wrinkled her nose.

"Don't remind me, Spots!" Plagg interrupted, flying over to hover above their bed and putting a paw to his forehead dramatically. "The biggest piece of Camembert ever, and I never even got to see it! The tragedy!"

"The only tragedy is that Miraculous Ladybug didn't actually get rid of the smell!" Adrien retorted, throwing a pillow at Plagg. "We had our reception under the Tower, and I could smell Camembert the whole time! And _not_ just the stuff in my pocket!" Plagg simply phased through the pillow, huffed, and flew back to the shelf he and Tikki shared in Adrien's old bedroom.

"You could have saved some of it for me at least," Plagg muttered. Marinette could hear Tikki's high-pitched laugh over Plagg's continued grumbling.

"I'm just glad the suit's magic kept my _dress_ from smelling like Camembert!" Marinette giggled.

"Not for nothing you get all the good luck," Adrien retorted, smiling at her affectionately.

Marinette pushed herself up against the headboard and snuggled into Adrien's shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her and she sighed in contentment. The room looked markedly different than it had while he was in school. The first thing he had done when they'd decided to move into the mansion after the wedding was to empty the room entirely and give Marinette free rein to redecorate however she wished. She, of course, had immediately returned his mother's LP collection and piano to their accustomed places. The television and some of the video games had also been brought back, but most of the room was now covered in Marinette's half-finished design projects. The chaise from her old room was against the far wall, and her old desk formed an "L" with his in one corner. After brightening up the walls, she had hung up a few framed magazine articles about the fashion house, including her first magazine spotlight after the bowler hat competition. However, when Adrien had asked if she wanted to cover the walls with posters of his face the way her room growing up had been, she'd simply pushed him down on the bed and purred, "Why would I want the pictures when I have the real thing?"

Marinette smiled. _It's time_. "Adrien, dear, could you pass me the knitting on your nightstand? I fell asleep while finishing your gift last night."

"You wish is my command, Princess." Adrien reached over and grabbed the nearly-complete blanket off the nightstand. "Are you sure this is my gift, Milady? I hate to break it to you, but I'm not quite this small. In fact, I don't think I've _ever_ been this small…"

"Of course that's it!" Marinette giggled. "Look closer," she urged him.

"I like the pattern," he commented, holding it up. "Red with black ladybug spots, and are those green paw prints inside the spots?"

"Mhmm…"

"And the size… it's… a _baby_ blanket?" He looked over at her, eyes widening. "Are you saying… there's a kitten inside the Ladybug?"

Marinette sat up and smiled, her cheeks turning light pink. "The doctor called yesterday and confirmed it: We're pregnant!"

"Mar, I, that's…" Adrien's face shifted through a dozen emotions in a fraction of a second. "It's wonderful."

Marinette put her hands on his cheeks, drawing his gaze to her eyes, willing him to feel how much she loved him. "Adrien, it's okay to be scared. I know you're worried. I know you don't feel prepared for this. But you don't have to worry. You're wonderful and caring. You put others' needs ahead of your own. You'll be a wonderful father."

He looked down at his hands. "What if I'm not? I didn't exactly have the best role model, in case you forgot. What if I'm no better than my own Father? What if our child turns out no better than me?"

Marinette took his hands in hers and kissed them gently. "If our baby grows up to be anything like his or her father, the world will be that much better for it. And you are _not_ your father. He put his own wants above everything else, including you. You put everyone _else_'s needs ahead of your own. Besides, you've always been amazing with children. Manon and the Césaire twins loved you growing up; Ana positively adores you! You will be a wonderful father to our baby."

Adrien sighed and smiled down at her. "Thanks," he finally said, wrapping her in his arms and burying his face in her hair. "I guess I don't have much choice in the matter, do I?"

She smiled as she returned the embrace and placed a kiss on his neck. "None at all."

"How is this going to work, you being Ladybug and all?"

"Oh, it's no trouble," Tikki squeaked from her place atop the headboard. She fluttered down to rest on Marinette's head as they pulled apart. "Other Ladybugs have gotten pregnant and not had any complications. Actually, the pregnancy and delivery always seem to go easier for them than it would otherwise. One of my previous holders had 15 children. She actually said holding the Miraculous of Creation seemed to make creating new life in her body so much easier than the one pregnancy when she'd given up her miraculous temporarily. Marinette will have to be more careful than usual not to get hit in the stomach, and a baby bump is impossible to hide in the suit, so she should probably avoid going out too much toward the end to preserve her identity. Other than that she'll be okay."

Adrien smiled at her adoringly. "Well you've given me such an incredible gift already, what should I give you?"

Marinette slid down further into the bed, prompting Tikki to fly away. "Why don't you come down here," she purred, pulling him down next to her, "and we can see if anything… comes up?"


	3. Chapter 3

_To The Keeper of Worlds: Don't worry, everything gets explained eventually. And Alix unfortunately doesn't get more than a passing mention in this story. I started writing this before I'd seen "Timetagger" or "Chat Blanc," so Bunnyx doesn't show up at all. But I am thinking about ways to incorporate her in future stories…_

_To Speckleflower: Yep, they fought off (at least) one invasion of Earth in the next 6 years. Supposedly aliens and magic and the like all actually exist in-universe but just haven't shown up in the series yet. And we will revisit the pregnant future-Marinette in a few chapters; the next couple chapters are with the present-day Marinette, who is definitely not pregnant!_

* * *

**Present Day**

Ladybug crouched next to Cat Noir, their school bags hidden behind a trashcan. "Do you realize this is the first time we've really fought together since—"

"Since my father, yeah." Cat Noir fell silent, a cloud over his face.

"It's okay, Kitty," she said, pulling him in for a quick hug and kissing his cheek. "Your father couldn't tear us apart, and neither will these guys. We beat him, so we can beat anyone!"

"It's just… I worry about you," he told her, looking her in the eye. "I'm not always there to watch your back."

"You don't have to worry. I'm always right here with you." She stood up, pulling him up with her. "Take the back while I go in the front."

"You got it, Milady."

Cat Noir ran down the alley and disappeared around the corner. Ladybug spun her yo-yo, looped it around a drainpipe, and swung herself up onto the roof. Quietly she made her way across the roof to the front of the diamond exchange. She could see a car idling outside, but this early in the morning, before most of the businesses opened, the foot traffic was light: all she saw was one woman standing on the other side of the street, looking into a storefront. She looped her yo-yo around a chimney and swung off the roof, spinning herself around to face the store and bracing her legs a moment before the impact.

The glass shattered as her feet made contact, and she landed in a crouch. She stood up to see a trio of men wearing ski masks and holding pistols on the far side of the store. They had all turned to face her at the sound, though one still had his gun pointed at the terrified clerk standing behind the counter.

"You know, it's common courtesy to make an appointment when you go ring shopping, boys," Ladybug told them calmly, pushing herself to her feet. She held her yo-yo loosely to one side, as if she hadn't a care in the world.

"Who–?"

"You mean you don't recognize me?" Ladybug smirked. She kept her eyes focused on the robber who appeared to be in charge, even as she saw a flash of black in her peripheral vision when Cat Noir slipped in from the back. "I know I haven't been out as much since Hawk Moth's defeat, but I'd think you people would recognize the Hero of Paris when she's standing right in front of you!"

"Ladybug?" All three robbers pointed their guns at her chest. Cat Noir crept down the hallway from the back storage room and quietly pulled the clerk to safety.

"In the spandex," Ladybug replied, holding her arms out. Cat Noir stood less than a meter behind the robbers, all of whose attention was focused on her. "So we can do this the easy way, where you come quietly and I don't have to string you up with my yo-yo like a side of beef. Or we can do this the hard way, where you try to fight and I make you look silly. Which way is it going to be?"

"It's just one chick in a stupid costume!" shouted the leader. "We can take her."

One of the robbers started taking a step toward her, only for all of them to freeze in their tracks when Cat Noir said, barely above a whisper, "What makes you think she's alone?"

Ladybug grinned at the looks of terror on all three robbers' faces as they heard Cat Noir's voice. Before she could react, however, the robbers erupted into motion. Two turned to face the new threat behind them, while the leader instinctively pulled the trigger.

Ladybug stumbled backward as pain blossomed from the middle of her chest. She fell to the ground, cradling the spot where she had been shot. Despite the ringing in her ears from the gunshot, she could hear Cat Noir's scream over the pandemonium.

"Ladybug!" Her heart broke at the utter despair in his voice. Suddenly the tone of his voice hardened.

"Cataclysm!"

The floor beneath her trembled and shook, and she blacked out.

[break]

As she came to, Ladybug heard a sound that reminded her of her mother tenderizing a cut of meat. She quickly jumped up but almost immediately regretted the motion when her broken ribs shifted. She looked around wildly. She was in a deep depression with shattered glass, walls, whole window panes, and even a wide assortment of jewelry, strewn around the pit. A few meters away, Cat Noir crouched over a trio of unmoving forms, mechanically punching them.

"Cat?" She called, stumbling toward him. He made no move to acknowledge her. "Cat Noir?" she called again. He continued to beat on the robbers as though she wasn't there.

"Lucky Charm!" she shouted, throwing her yo-yo into the air. A bullhorn landed in her outstretched hands. She threw her yo-yo and tied it around his arms and chest before screaming into the bullhorn, "CAT NOIR! STOP!"

"L-Ladybug?" Cat Noir slowly turned away from the prone forms in front of him to look up at her. His eyes, which had looked dead, quickly gained new life as his expression changed to confusion and shock. His jaw dropped open and he stared at her as though he was seeing a ghost.

Ladybug fixed him with a withering glare, so intense that he winced. "What were you thinking?" She enunciated every syllable, eyes narrowed and teeth bared.

"My-Milady…"

"You nearly killed them." She gestured to the slowly-stirring bodies lying in front of him. "You Cataclysmed the entire _block_ apart!" She waved her arms, taking in the scene around them: the deep pit they were in, the jewelry store debris around them, the clear sky above them. The Cataclysm had torn the entire building apart, showering several blocks with flying debris. Bystanders stood at the edge of the pit, staring down at the destruction. "Explain!"

"Milady, I-I thought you – that you were – dead." He looked up into her eyes as tears began to form. He moved an arm to reach for her, but the yo-yo string prevented him. "Could you let me go?"

Ladybug didn't release him. She fixed him with a withering glare. "You thought I was dead, and your reaction was _this_?"

"I-I couldn't think—"

"No kidding you weren't thinking!" Ladybug screamed. "I never would have wanted you to do _this_ – and because of me! How _could_ you!? How _dare_ you!?"

"Milady I—"

"This is _never_ okay!"

"Milady—"

Ladybug's eyes welled up with tears. The anger in her face cracked a moment before she turned away from him, cradling her ribs. "I-I-I can't look at you right now. I need to go home. Goodbye, Cat." She climbed out of the crater, reeling in her yo-yo as she did so. When she reached the ground level she threw the bullhorn into the air and shouted, "Miraculous Ladybug." The debris began swirling around and repairing the Cataclysm's destruction.

"Ladybug! Please!" Cat Noir shouted behind her.

Ladybug walked out the newly-formed front door without a backward glance, ignoring the looks of shock on the bystanders' faces. She didn't stop until she was several blocks away, when she ducked into an alleyway to de-transform.

As Marinette walked back to the bakery, she couldn't believe what had just happened. Although her suit had stopped the bullet, her ribs still ached from the impact. There was going to be a bruise there, even though Miraculous Ladybug had healed the cracked ribs.

Cat Noir had nearly killed those robbers. Had she not acted, Cat Noir – Adrien – _would_ have killed them! A part of her, she was ashamed to admit, had wanted him to do it; getting shot _hurt_! But she could never have forgiven him – never forgiven herself – if he had done that because of her.

She felt her face burning at the shame of what had happened. Getting shot was bad enough. Adrien's reaction was bad enough. But to top it all off, they had fought. Publicly. The bystanders passing on the sidewalk had watched her restrain him. They had heard her scream at him. They had stared at her in shock as she walked away from him after fixing the building. What did they think? What did they think of her after she screamed at her partner? After the Hawk Moth fight enough people had seen Ladybug and Cat Noir holding hands outside the mansion for them to let Alya announce their relationship on the Ladyblog. So what did they think of her screaming at her _boyfriend_?

Before she knew it, her steps had led her home. She pushed open the bakery door to find her parents talking animatedly behind the counter. Her father broke off what he was saying the moment he caught sight of her, and her mother immediately ran around the counter to wrap her up in a hug.

"Marinette!" her mother cried, holding her tightly. After a moment Marinette returned the hug, resting her forehead on her mother's shoulder and allowed the tears she'd been holding back to fall freely.

"I'm sorry, Mama," she sobbed. "Can I just stay home? I can't handle school today."

"Of course, dear," her mother said soothingly, sniffing back her own tears and patting Marinette's back. "It's all right. We understand. I'll call the school. You go upstairs and I'll bring up some hot cocoa."

Marinette nodded, squeezing her mother tighter. She slowly made her way up to her bedroom, crawled up the ladder to her bed, and pulled the covers over her head. Tikki flew out of her customary place in Marinette's purse, phased through the blanket, and sat down on the pillow next to Marinette's head.

"Marinette," Tikki began, pushing a strand of hair back from Marinette's cheek, "what's wrong? What happened?"

Marinette shook her head and sobbed. She couldn't face Tikki right now. She heard her mother push the trapdoor open, walk over to the bed, and slide a tray up onto the shelf next to her bed. A moment later her mother's footsteps receded and the trapdoor dropped shut again. Tikki left Marinette and phased through the blanket to check out the plate of cookies. Marinette didn't touch them.

Before lunchtime, Marinette sent Adrien a quick text. Then she rolled over, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.

Marinette woke up hours later to the sound of her trapdoor creaking open. "Marinette?" a familiar voice called out. "C'mon, girl, I know you're in here. I've got homework, and I've got treats. Take your pick."

She groaned, bleary-eyed, and pushed the blanket away. Then she looked over at her alarm clock. Four in the afternoon. She'd slept over four hours. That explained the headache – that and the morning's events. Marinette pushed herself up, ignoring the sandwich tray next to her bed, and looked down to see her best friend staring up at her, a plate of cookies and two mugs in her hands, Marinette's school bag on the floor by her feet.

"Alya? What are you doing here?"

"What do you think I'm doing here? You're miserable, so I came to cheer you up." Alya pulled down the previous tray, replaced it with the cookies and cocoa, and climbed the ladder to sit next to Marinette on the bed. She reached across Marinette and grabbed a handful of cookies. One she put into her own mouth and another she gave to Trixx, who'd just poked his head out of her pocket. Alya tossed another cookie to Tikki, who caught it in midair and floated down to sit on Marinette's shoulder.

"Alya, I'm fine," Marinette protested, only to have Alya stuff two cookies in her mouth.

Alya scoffed as she started listing on her fingers. "You missed school this morning. You had a public fight with your boyfriend – thanks, by the way; the Ladyblog hasn't had this much traffic since I _announced_ your relationship. You haven't eaten anything since breakfast. You've spent the whole day in bed. And you got shot. You're a lot of things, girl, but 'fine' isn't one of them."

Marinette chewed on the cookies and forced herself to swallow. As the sweetness of the cookies sunk in, she sighed, allowing her lips to curl up into something approximating a smile for the first time since that morning. She closed her eyes and focused on the taste of the almonds and vanilla in the cookies. She reached out for a mug and took a few sips of her mother's hot chocolate. Finally she opened her eyes and looked at Alya.

"You're right, I'm not fine," she said, frowning. "I'm angry. I'm in pain. I'm embarrassed in a way I've never been as Ladybug before. At the moment I never want to see Adrien again. I just – I can't believe what he did!"

Marinette buried her face in Alya's shoulder and sobbed. Hours of stress and frustration and anger poured out in a torrent. Alya put her arms around Marinette's shoulders and let her cry. Marinette's shoulders were wracked with sobs. After what seemed like hours, Marinette's tears slowed and finally stopped. She looked up at Alya and groaned before leaning back against the wall.

"Thanks," she told her. "I didn't realize how much I needed that. The worst part is, I'm not even sure why I'm so upset about this!"

"Considering that you watched your boyfriend nearly _murder_ a bunch of criminals out of revenge for your 'death,' I'd say you are justified!" Alya told her, arching an eyebrow. "If I knew Nino was capable of doing something like that, I'd be upset, too."

"The thing is, I've always kind of known that Cat Noir was _capable_ of terrifying things – he destroyed the Eiffel Tower about a dozen times to stop Akumas!" Marinette replied, a look of confusion in her eyes. "But it's one thing to know that he _can_ do those things and another to know he _would_ do those things – and that he would do it because of _me_."

"I understand," Alya said, rubbing Marinette's back. "You are afraid that if this is what he would do if he just _thought_ you were hurt, what would he do if you really _were_ hurt?"

Marinette thought about it and nodded.

"Do you still love him?"

"What?" Marinette was shocked at the question. Of course she still loved Adrien. He was her partner, her best friend, her other half. She couldn't imagine facing the future without him by her side. She would do anything for him. "Yes, of course I love him."

"Do you still _like_ him?"

Marinette furrowed her brow in confusion. What kind of question was that? If she loved him, then of course she liked him, right? But the more she thought, the more she realized that she _didn't_ particularly like Adrien – not today, at least. She had seen a dark side of him that morning, something that she had only seen hints of before. _That_, she knew she didn't like. Even when he turned on her and tried to take her miraculous, he hadn't shown that level of rage – he'd been closer to despair at that time. If anything, today he had behaved more like _Hawk Moth_ than he had like Cat Noir.

"I-I don't know," Marinette finally answered. "The things I've always liked are still there, but there was something else today, and I didn't like it. I don't know if I can look at him again without seeing him demolishing that building."

Alya nodded. "Give it time, girl. You've spent so much time together the last couple months, maybe you both need a breather. I'll be here for you whenever you need me."

* * *

_Just to avoid any confusion, in this universe the Miraculous suits themselves can't be damaged except by miraculous-based magic (as stated in "Milady"). However, their resistance to blunt force is just that of whatever material they mimic. Consequently, Ladybug getting shot is the equivalent of getting punched in the chest at 1000 mph: The suit stops the bullet, but she still feels the impact._


	4. Chapter 4

_To Speckleflower: Thanks! Personally, I prefer writing action sequences most of the time. That one took some thought because I wasn't sure how much to show and how much to leave to the imagination._

_To The Keeper of Worlds: That's pretty much what I'm going with as far as injuries to the miraculous holders go. In part this is my explanation for why none of the Akumas were shown to have injured the heroes (their power isn't actually a miraculous weapon). Part of the holdup with this story was getting the flow right between present and future. I hope it works!_

_To Toshiro of the Eternal Dream: Hopefully this chapter will resolve some of your questions. One thing to remember is what she found on waking up: it wasn't Adrien panicking over her; it was Adrien beating a man to death. _That_ is the driving factor behind her reaction. Your second set of questions is ultimately the theme of this story: dealing with grief and loss. I originally wasn't going to include this chapter with Nino and Adrien talking as it seemed redundant, but I reconsidered after reading your review. Marinette got her moment of a friend saying she isn't in the wrong with Alya; Adrien needs the same._

_Keep the reviews coming; they can actually make a difference!_

_Note: Unless otherwise specified, the timeline of the current chapter is the same as the previous chapter. So this is still present day._

* * *

Adrien stumbled into class nearly 30 minutes late, mumbling a half-hearted apology as he found his seat. The rest of the morning passed by in a fog. He couldn't pay attention to any of his classes. The teacher called his name about ten times before he responded to a question; Plagg finally pinched him to get his attention. Twice he wandered into the wrong classroom by mistake. After the second time, Nino took pity on him and escorted him between classes for the rest of the day.

At lunchtime, Adrien for once found himself feeling grateful for the Ladyblog and its small army of followers who would upload reports on the heroes in real-time. Although the news of that morning's fight was sketchy at best – many of the details were missing, and they couldn't agree on the number of gunshots – it at least kept Nino and Alya from probing him for information he wasn't yet ready to share. Alya did open her mouth to ask him what had happened, but Nino elbowed her in the ribs and shook his head. Adrien gave Nino a grateful smile. He had just finished his lunch when he received a text from Marinette: "I'm OK, but my ribs are still sore. I'm sorry for yelling, but I'm still angry and I'm not ready to see you yet, so please leave me alone for now."

"What's up, dude?" Nino asked.

Adrien silently passed his phone across the table. Nino and Alya read the text quickly. Nino's brow was furrowed throughout, but Alya's eyebrows shot up the moment she started reading.

Alya jumped to her feet. "Sorry, I need to make a phone call."

"What's up with her?" Nino wondered, watching her leave.

Adrien shrugged and grabbed his bag to leave for their next class. Nino grabbed his arm and turned him around toward the stairway to the correct classroom.

After school ended, Alya gave Nino a quick kiss before disappearing out of the classroom. Nino meanwhile grabbed Adrien's arm and directed him through the hallways and down the front steps before steering him to the skate park down the street from the school. Nino found a secluded park bench, pushed Adrien down, and sat next to him before fixing him with a concerned look and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Okay, dude, you were late this morning. Marinette wasn't at school today and is mad at you for some reason. On top of that, you've been completely out of it all day. Now spill. I'm your friend; let me help you."

Adrien kicked at a tuft of grass on the ground in front of the bench. He didn't want to tell Nino what had happened – what he'd thought, what he'd done because of it. At the same time, Nino was his best friend. And he was a fellow hero. _And_ Nino's girlfriend was _also_ a superhero. They'd been heroes together longer than Adrien and Marinette had been dating. If anyone would know what Adrien experienced, it would have to be Nino. One look at Nino's expression, and the words started spilling out. "Have you ever failed Alya? Ever thought she was hurt and it was your fault?"

"Of course, dude," Nino answered. He let out a rueful laugh. "Remember Heroes' Day? Alya got Akumatized and I couldn't protect her. Can you believe it? I hold the Miraculous of Protection, and I couldn't _protect_ the one person who matters the most to me! When we arrested your father, I swore that I would keep her safe that time, and I could hardly do anything to protect her then! I was on the opposite side of the cave for most of the fight."

"What would you have done if she'd gotten hurt?"

Nino let out a heavy breath. He was quiet for a moment. "I don't know," he finally admitted. "I'd probably be beside myself with guilt. On Heroes' Day, remember, I got Akumatized the moment Alya was – seeing her Akumatized made me so upset I couldn't fight it. When Zombizou was turning everyone into love-zombies and she was infected, I couldn't leave her. I let her kiss me instead of trying to get away from her. When we were Akumatized into Oblivio together, it was because I couldn't protect her from people mocking us. And all of that was – relatively-speaking, at least – not a big deal because you and Marinette fixed it all. If I thought she was actually _hurt_… I couldn't even imagine…"

"Well, that's what happened this morning," Adrien told him, burying his face in his hands. "We got an alert that that jewelry store crew was hitting a store down the street, so we went in to stop them. Only problem was, they were armed. I was on the other side of the store when one of them shot Marinette."

Nino's jaw dropped. "_That_'s what the ribs thing meant? He _shot_ her?"

Adrien nodded dumbly. "I lost it. In that moment I saw black. My only thought was to make them pay." He stared intently at his hands, remembering the blood, the feel of their faces as he beat them senseless. "Marinette didn't see it that way. She-she was _angry_ at me for what I'd done. Doesn't she realize that I thought she was dead?"

Nino put his hand on Adrien's shoulder and pulled him in close. "I'm glad she wasn't dead, bro."

Adrien took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Some of the tension that he'd been carrying around all day leaked out of him with the breath. "Me too. The suit protected her."

Nino sighed. "I can't imagine what that was like, dude. Everyone knows how much you care for her, how much she means to you – no one more so than Marinette herself. She'll come around. Probably she just needs some time."

"But how could she yell at me like that? How could she just leave me there like that?" Adrien demanded, tears finally starting to fall freely.

"My guess, she saw what you can really do, and she was frightened." Nino shrugged. "Destruction is a powerful thing. Plagg's told stories about what happens when he's off the leash. _You_'ve only really unleashed your full potential once before now, fighting your father that first time this summer, and that nearly destroyed your house. And today was even bigger than that: the pictures online made it look like a bomb had gone off downtown before Marinette repaired it all."

"Does she think I would hurt her?" Adrien asked in bewilderment.

"No, I don't think she's afraid of what you could do _to_ her," Nino answered slowly, shaking his head. "I think she's more afraid of what you could do _for_ her. Can you honestly say there's anything you _wouldn't_ do for Marinette?"

"There's _nothing_ I wouldn't do for her. I would do _anything_ to keep her safe."

"We already know you would have jumped in front of that bullet, suit or no suit. We know you would _die_ for her. That's not in question. But would you _kill_ for her?"

Adrien was silent. _I guess, after today, the answer to that is "absolutely."_

When Adrien didn't say anything, Nino continued, "Now that she knows what you would do for her, maybe she's scared by what she sees."

"Do _you_ think I did the wrong thing?" Adrien fixed Nino with a penetrating stare.

Nino raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Hey, I don't think it's my place to tell you whether you were right or wrong to do what you did. You've seen Ladybug take hits before, but you've never seen your _girlfriend_ get hurt like this before. Take it from me: it's something else entirely when it's the girl you love. You were faced with a terrible situation and you reacted on instinct. What you did definitely kept them from doing anything else, so you did at least keep her as safe as you could after she was shot. I can't say I would have done the same thing if it had been me and Alya, but my thing is Protection, not Destruction. But whatever else we can say, at least no one died and Marinette's suit saved her life."

Adrien sighed. "Thanks. But what do I do now? I mean, I don't want to lose her, you know?"

Nino put an arm around his shoulders. "Maybe she just needs time. She'll come around eventually."

Adrien nodded, though without much conviction. "Yeah, maybe you're right."

"'Maybe'? Of course I'm right, dude! And until that happens, you've got your buddies to hang with. You're my bro, and I'm here for you no matter what. Now why don't we do some skateboarding, get your mind on something else for a bit?"


	5. Chapter 5

_AN: Yesterday I finished the first draft for the story that I'm publishing after this one. It takes place after "Tit for Tat" and focuses on Alya and Nino, particularly Alya playing detective (I have about 3 different "Detective Alya" stories planned…). So there won't be a long wait after this story finishes before the next one starts up! But this chapter is just the one-third mark…_

_To The Keeper of Worlds: Hopefully by the end of this story, they will have answered that question…_

_To Toshiro of the Eternal Dream: Thanks! It's not that I disliked the chapter or anything in it. I actually really liked the bromance with Adrien and Nino, but didn't want the story to drag in the beginning. The reason the opening felt so weak was more than just the 1 chapter; I just wasn't sure if that chapter really fit the new plan. And I love getting suggestions, but I don't use them unless it's something I'm comfortable with and want to use. For example, the second story to come after this one was inspired by a reader suggestion, though the story itself is mine._

* * *

"Hi, Marinette," Adrien called as she crossed the school entryway toward him, a bakery bag in her hand. "How are you this morning?"

"Hello, Adrien," Marinette replied stiffly, leading him to a corner away from the other students. She handed him the bag, and he smelled the sweet aroma of fresh croissants. "Mama sent a care package for you. She feels bad that you've had to rely on Mme Lenoir's cooking this week."

"Will you thank her for me?"

"I will." Marinette nodded and stepped back. The silence grew between them.

"Marinette –"

"I'm not angry at you, Adrien," she interrupted. "I'm not – not anymore, at least. But I can't forget what happened, either. I can't get the image of that store exploding out of my mind. When I close my eyes, I still see those robbers' bloody faces." Adrien opened his mouth to protest, but she held up a hand to stop him. "I know they hurt me. I know you wanted to protect me. I know maybe they deserved what they got. But I can't forget that _you_ were the one to do it. I can't forget that _I_ was the reason you did it."

Adrien sighed. Her silence toward him had made this his worst week in a long time. Even though he had his friends – Nino had stayed at the mansion with him every night that week – he felt a gaping hole in his life where the two most important people in his life, his partners, Ladybug and Marinette, should have been. "I'm sorry."

Marinette nodded. Her still expression broke just slightly and her lip quivered on the verge of tears. She opened her mouth as if to say something more to him, but immediately turned on her heel and marched across the entryway to where Alya was waiting for her. Alya wrapped an arm around Marinette's shoulder and gave Adrien a regretful look. Adrien turned to head down the corridor to his first class. As he went he reached into the bag and pulled out a cheese pastry as well as a wedge of Camembert. He slipped the cheese into his pocket for Plagg while he bit into the pastry.

"Adrikins! Hold up!" He heard the familiar voice shout behind him and groaned inwardly at hearing the nickname. He'd been dreading Chloe's reaction ever since news of his semi-breakup with Marinette spread through the school the day after it had happened – almost as much as he had been dreading Lila's. Fortunately, Lila had not approached him once that week; he suspected Kagami might have something to do with that.

"Hi, Chloe," Adrien called, glancing back to see Chloe approaching. Uncharacteristically, she was alone; Sabrina was waiting by the door, near Rose and Juleka. Adrien stopped to wait for her to reach him.

"Hey, I haven't seen you in forever!" Chloe said, giving him a quick hug and peck on the cheek. "I miss having all our classes together! And" she dropped her voice so he had to strain to hear "I miss spending the whole summer with you guys."

Adrien forced himself to smile. "Sorry, Chlo, I've meant to call, but I've been busy this week. The new spring lineup needs to go into production by Monday, and the factory is trying to renegotiate at the last minute."

"And I'm sure this has nothing to do with your favorite designer?" Chloe raised an eyebrow at him pointedly.

"That's got nothing to do with it!" Adrien protested. "Marinette's still coming in. She's still completing in her designs! _Her_ part at the fashion house is fine. It's just _me_ that she has a problem with." He stopped, face burning, as Chloe gave him an appraising look.

"I'm sure," was all Chloe said for a moment. Then she smiled at him a little too cheerfully and said, "It's been too long. We need to catch up. Tell you what, why don't we stop in for coffee at the café across the street after school? We can catch up there!"

"Um, I don't—"

Chloe giggled. "I'm not asking you on a _date_, Adrien. I'm not interested in being your _rebound_ or anything like that. It's coffee. As friends. We're still _friends_, aren't we?"

Adrien let out a breath. As helpful as it was to talk to Nino, he did need a girl's perspective on this, too – someone other than Alya. And since it directly involved Ladybug and Cat Noir, the number of remaining options at the moment was exactly one. "Yeah, we can get coffee after school," he finally agreed. "It'll be good to catch up."

"Excellent!" Chloe beamed. "I'll meet you at the front door after classes!"

"What was that about?" Nino asked, coming up behind Adrien as Chloe disappeared around the corner.

"I'm not sure," Adrien replied, still looking at the corner where Chloe had gone. "I… guess I'm getting coffee with Chloe after school."

"Huh," Nino observed. "Sounds exciting, dude. _Loads_ more exciting than the skateboarding we were going to do!"

Adrien slapped his forehead. "Sorry, Nino. I completely forgot about that."

"Don't worry about it," Nino told him, grinning and slapping his back. "You enjoy your coffee; I'll hang with Ivan and Kim."

* * *

After his final class, Adrien packed his books away and hurried out of the room. In the entrance hall he caught sight of Chloe standing by the door and walked over to her. Marinette and Alya walked past him. Although he felt Marinette's eyes on him, she didn't turn her head in his direction; Alya gave him a sympathetic smile as they left the school together.

"Adrien!" Chloe greeted him, giving him a peck on the cheek. "I've missed hanging out with you over the summer. We need to correct that!"

"Oh, um, yeah, I-I would like that, Chloe," Adrien managed as Chloe grabbed onto his arm and steered him out of the school and down the steps. Chloe turned to the left and walked down the street, past a group of businesswomen walking in the opposite direction. They eyed the two teens as they passed, and one gave them a smile.

Adrien held the door open for Chloe to enter first, and she led him up to the counter, where they both ordered their drinks. Although Adrien offered to pay, Chloe simply laughed in his face and pulled money out of her purse to cover both their drinks.

"Well, where should we sit?" Adrien asked, gesturing toward the crowded seating area. "It doesn't look like there are too many empty tables."

"Hmm…" Chloe thought. "How about… ah! Come on, follow me."

Chloe led him toward the far corner of the room, edging their way past the other patrons, blocking his view of the table she was leading him toward. Adrien noticed a couple empty tables on the way, but Chloe ignored them. He still couldn't see exactly where she was leading him, but hurried to keep up.

"Here we are!" Chloe called. Adrien peeked around her, but the table she indicated was not empty. Of the four chairs, two were already occupied – by Alya and Marinette.

Chloe pushed Adrien into the seat across from Marinette while she herself claimed the final empty chair, across from Alya and with Adrien and Marinette to either side of her. Adrien's eyes went wide. Apparently Chloe _didn't_ want to just "catch up" with him. Alya grimaced ruefully.

"Chloe? Adrien?" Marinette squeaked in surprise, eyes wide. "What–?"

"Sorry," Alya replied, patting Marinette's hand. "_Chloe_ here thought it would be a good idea for the two of you to sit down and talk after everything that happened last week."

Chloe scowled at her. "What Alya _meant_ to say is that we both know how difficult this whole ordeal – this whole week, even – has been on both of you, and we wanted to help you work through it. Mend fences, maybe."

Adrien looked at her in surprise. When had Chloe taken such an interest in his relationship with Marinette? What made her think it was her business in the first place? A glance across the table showed him that Marinette was thinking the same thing.

"Look," Chloe went on, "I know it's not my place to tell you how to live your lives. You need to figure this out on your own. But this is bigger than just the two of you. Everyone is being affected by it. Sabrina has had trouble concentrated in school all week because of the emotions she's been picking up from you both."

"Mylène was close to tears while we were on patrol last week, and she doesn't even know the connection between Ladybug and Cat Noir's issues this week and your breakup," Alya admitted.

"And Ryoku asked me which of you I thought she needed to beat some sense into with the flat of her sword last night!" Chloe added. "Face it, guys: your falling out is hurting the rest of the team. You need to figure it out, or the team might collapse.

"But even more than that, you are both our friends, and we want what's best for you. Marinette, sweetie, I know I haven't always been nice to you, but I want to see you happy. And you haven't looked happy since before this happened. He thought he had just lost you, and he lashed out. He did what he did because he cares about you. It's not what you wanted, but can't you find it in you to see it for what it is, forgive him, and move on?"

Marinette opened her mouth to respond, but Chloe didn't wait for her response before she turned to face Adrien. He met her gaze without flinching. "Adrien, Adrien, Adrien. Where to start? You're my oldest friend, I love you to death, but what were you _thinking_? You nearly killed those men and for what? Because you thought they might have killed Marinette. How many times have we gotten hit doing what we do? How many more times will it happen? We already know the suits are impervious to all but miraculous weapons, so unless they're melting down miraculous to make bullets, _bullets can't kill us!_"

"Maybe not, but they sure sting," Marinette muttered under her breath.

Chloe ignored her as she continued. "Now, do you want Marinette to give up being Ladybug so she never gets hurt again? Don't tell me you haven't thought about it in the last week." Adrien was silent. "You can ask her all you want, but if she _did_ give it up because you were scared, would she still be the same girl you fell in love with, the same girl that all of Paris looks up to?"

"No, I guess not," Adrien replied, studying the pattern on the tablecloth.

"Of course not! And as for your actions, do you really think that's what Marinette wanted?" Chloe asked him, pulling his gaze back up to her. "Because I can tell you: the Ladybug we all adore would rather be hurt herself than see one person harmed because of her.

"I know you don't want to hear all of this, so Alya and I are going to leave you two to talk it over together." Chloe stood up, nodding for Alya to do the same. "You have three choices here: you can talk it out and reconcile. You can make out until you forget all of this ever happened. Or, if it would suit you better, suit up and go a few rounds. Whichever way you choose, you need to work this out because you're both miserable, and we can't have a miserable Ladybug and Cat Noir who aren't speaking to each other as the leaders of the Heroes of Paris. So we'll be waiting outside, and you'd better come out together and smiling. Because if _not_–" she glared at them "–I have a Venom with your name on it! Bye!"

After Alya and Chloe left the table, Adrien stared after them for another minute while his mind tried to process what had just happened. Finally he looked over at Marinette, who was looking at him with an unreadable expression on her face. He narrowed his eyes in a question; after the years of their partnership, she was usually an open book to him, but not this time. She didn't respond. Finally he broke the silence. "Well, that was something else. Chloe usually means well. But I didn't think Chloe had something so… caring, I guess?… in her. I'm sorry they ambushed you like this."

Marinette let out a breath and caught his hand with her own. Adrien jumped at the contact. He squirmed as she made eye contact. "Adrien… we do need to talk. I'm sorry for avoiding you this week. And I do know how much you care for me; believe me, I feel the same way! I've been miserable this week, and I know you have, too. I don't want us to be like this. But I need you to promise me that you won't kill someone just because I get hurt."

Adrien had just opened his mouth to respond when a new voice cut in from across the room.

"Yeah, that's not happening, honey."

Adrien and Marinette whipped around to see who had just spoken. Adrien recognized her as the woman who had passed him on the street outside the coffee shop, but now he looked closer. His jaw dropped open in shock. Her blond hair was in a pixie cut and streaked with grey. She wore a modest professional suit. Wrinkles creased her face. A long scar ran from her forehead all the way to her jaw line. She limped as she strode across the room and fell into one of the empty chairs at the table. And yet she had the same eyes and mouth, the same expression and mannerisms. It was –

"Chloe?" Marinette whispered.

"Hi, Mar," Chloe said. "I need your help."


	6. Chapter 6

_To GuenZhenXuan2020: I think "Old Woman Chloe" is one of my two favorite parts of this story, or at least of the future dystopian setting._

_To Rose Tiger: We haven't even _gotten_ to "uh oh" territory yet!_

_To Speckleflower: Yeah… I really like cliffhangers, in case you haven't noticed yet! Depending on what you consider to be a "cliffhanger," at least half the remaining chapters of this story end on one!_

_To The Keeper of Woods: I actually didn't think about having young-Chloe and old-Chloe interact. A few of the young and old versions do, but not that one – or at least not in this story. I'm still not sure how to work Bunnyx into the "Mind Games"-verse, though I have a few ideas I'm considering…_

* * *

"Chloe?" Marinette whispered again, heart thumping in her chest. Surely her eyes had to be playing a trick on her, right? Chloe had only left their table a few minutes before. Her hair had still been in its signature ponytail and she'd been wearing her usual designer clothes. Everything had seemed normal. So what could possibly have happened to her in that time? She seemed to have aged decades in mere moments! "I… I don't believe it."

And yet the woman who had just sat down at their table looked exactly like an older version of Chloe. Marinette had only seen Chloe's mother from a distance on a handful of occasions, but the family resemblance was unmistakable; the two could have passed for sisters. This older Chloe's hair looked different from the Chloe who had just left the coffee shop minutes before, as did her clothing, but her eye color was correct. She would recognize that expression anywhere. If she hadn't been limping while she walked, her stride and posture would have been identical to the Chloe they knew. But still–

"You're not a-a-a shapeshifter or something, are you?" Marinette demanded. "You _look_ like Chloe, or at least an older version of Chloe, but… there's something about you that just feels… different – I mean more than just… you got old!"

"Thanks," Chloe chuckled, kicking her feet up on the opposite chair and leaning back. "As if _you_ would look like a teen model in my shoes! You really think I might be a shapeshifter? Please. I've met a few of them. Even borrowed the Chameleon Miraculous on a trip to Africa once… a lifetime ago. There are always tells if you know what to look for.

"No, I promise it's really me, Mar," the newcomer – Chloe – said, tipping the chair back onto its back legs and folding her arms behind her head. She looked at Marinette with an expression of such affection that Marinette almost turned away in embarrassment. "And as for what's different, a lot has changed over the years. We got to be really close friends in the next couple of years after this moment, for one thing. Working together to expand the Heroes of Paris and build on your connections with the rest of the heroes around the world was a big part of that – while you were away, Alya, Nino, and I had to keep things together in Paris. Then we both matured a lot in university – though I suppose I needed it a lot more than you did. It's been so long, sweetie."

"It's been less than 2 minutes," Adrien observed, looking at the new Chloe with a confused expression on his face.

"For you it has," Chloe answered him with a nod. "For me it's been closer to twenty years since I got up from this very table and walked outside with Alya to wait and see what would happen with you two clueless lovebirds."

Marinette's jaw dropped. "What? Twenty years? What do you mean by that? What's going on here? You'd better tell me or – we can't be friends anymore!"

At this Chloe burst out laughing, doubled over with tears streaming down her face. Marinette looked on with even more bewilderment; across the table, she could see the same confusion on Adrien's face. Marinette couldn't remember ever seeing Chloe laugh so much; Adrien's look suggested he hadn't seen it before, either.

"I'm sorry," Chloe choked out, wiping tears from her eyes. "It's just been so long since I actually laughed. Not that I've really had any _reason_ to laugh in the last decade or so, but still. God, I've missed you, Marinette!"

"What's going on? Why's that so funny?"

"Would you believe I was almost the maid of honor for your wedding?"

Marinette leaned forward. "What? But–"

"Yeah, it was… six years from now, right after the big alien invasion." Marinette's color drained at that. _First a time traveling Chloe, and now there are aliens?_ "Now that I think about it, that was probably _why_ you decided to get married when you did: the invasion scared the whole planet. It wasn't too long after the invasion ended that Ana was conceived, now that I think about it. A dozen of my friends had babies between 9 months and a year after we defeated the aliens – I'm surprised the two of you _didn't_, if I'm completely honest. I think the world population nearly recovered in that year alone! And as for weddings… I think I stood for at least 20 of them the summer after the invasion alone! You'd just gotten back from the trip where you met the American Guardians of the Miraculous for the first time when the invasion started, and it's a good thing, too. If it weren't for their timely intervention, portalling in from Peru right where we needed them the most, we might not have won. As it is, the aliens controlled almost all of Europe – from the Ural mountains all the way to the Ocean – by the time the American Guardians brought in reinforcements from the States and we finally turned them back."

"Um, I'm sorry, but this is all completely insane," Marinette finally choked out. "I'm not sure which is crazier: an alien invasion, American Guardians, or you being the maid of honor for my – wait, did you say _wedding_?"

"Right, the wedding," Chloe said, smiling wistfully. "Like I said, everyone was shaken up by the invasion, and you decided right then and there to get married. And I mean _right_ there, on the Atlantic shore when we finally forced the aliens to leave the planet. The minute the last alien ship lifted off, Adrien dropped to one knee, though I'm not sure if that was to _propose_ or because he couldn't actually stay on his feet any longer… It was taking both Alya and I to keep you upright, and not just from the shock! Of course, it took another year or so to get everything planned. You even got M. Agreste out of prison long enough to witness it." Adrien sat up at that. Chloe looked at him and laughed gently. "What? Who _else_ did you think poor, lovesick Mar over here would be marrying, if not you? You realize she already has the whole thing planned out, right?"

Marinette's eyes went wide, her heart stopped, and her cheeks started to burn. She snuck a glance away from Chloe at Adrien, long enough to see his cheeks starting to turn pink also, before turning back to face Chloe. "Who told you that? How did you _know_ that?"

"Girl, you, me, Alya, and Sabrina had so many sleepovers the next couple of years that it would have been a shock if Alya _hadn't_ spilled the beans on your wedding journal at some point! Oh don't worry," she added quickly. "I never told a soul about it until… well, _now_, I guess. Adrien – er, _my_ Adrien, that is – never knew, so far as I could tell. But I guess _your_ Adrien does now… Um… Sorry about that.

"Naturally Alya was always supposed to be your matron of honor, but the Vulpines – that's a race of fox-like aliens from the other side of our galaxy, they visited us to warn us about the invasion a couple months before it started – came begging for help 2 months before the wedding, and of course no one could help them but the fox miraculous holder. They thought that made her some sort of Messiah-Avatar thing for them. They had fought alongside us during the invasion, so you and Alya both thought we needed to return the favor, even if neither of you was happy about the timing. So off she went to help save their planet from space slugs or something. She hoped to be back in time, but when she still wasn't back 2 days before the wedding, you asked me to fill in. You didn't need to," she added, chuckling. "Alya got back the night before the wedding: she literally crashed the bachelorette party with a spaceship! Good thing the entire wedding party – all the girls at the party, in fact – was heroes; it would have been fun explaining _that_ one!" Chloe sighed. "Listen to me, prattling like some old lady. Oh how I've missed just sitting and talking with two of my best friends. The stories I could tell you about my past – your future, maybe. But no; I have a problem, and you are the only ones who can help me. I need you to save my present, and maybe stop it from becoming your future."

"But, can't you just ask us to do it in your own time?" Adrien demanded. "Why do you need _us_?"

"That's the thing," Chloe answered, eyes growing darker. "I can't. Because _one_ of you is dead," she announced, eyes shifting between them, "and the _other_ is the problem."


	7. Chapter 7

_AN: This chapter comes with a trigger warning for character death, in case the ending of the last chapter didn't warn you what was coming… There are more deaths spread throughout the rest of this story, but this is by far the one described in the greatest detail._

_To GuenZhenXuan2020: I don't start posting multi-chapter stories until they are entirely written (even though I continue tweaking until the minute they post). New chapters will post around the same time of day as this one, every day until the story is finished. "Running out of Time" is 15 chapters total plus Epilogue. The day after this story is finished I'm going to start a One-Shot anthology, the first story of which picks up a couple hours after "Running out of Time" ends. So… ten more days of this story! And then the story after this one is already written, so I'll be posting regularly through (most of) February._

_To The Keeper of Worlds: You don't have long to wait on seeing what that bomb means…_

* * *

**Eight years in the future**

"So what are our plans for the rest of the day?" Adrien asked, sipping his coffee and wiggling his toes inside the new slippers Marinette had knitted for him. He loved all of her handmade gifts; he didn't have a creative bone in his body, even if she still insisted that the best gift he ever gave her was that lucky charm. He smiled across the table at her. She seemed… different this morning: more radiant, almost like she was glowing. Or maybe she had always looked that way, and it had taken her announcement before he finally realized. Marinette blushed under his gaze, fingering her new necklace tenderly.

"Well," she finally offered, looking at him hopefully, "we both have the day off, so maybe we can just… stay in? Pop some popcorn and watch old movies?"

"That sounds amazing, Princess."

The speaker hovering over the table came to life at that moment. "Guys, I hate to bother you, but we have a developing situation," came Max's voice.

"You know that speaker's the first thing that's going after the baby gets here, right?" Adrien retorted, glaring at the device.

"A baby?" Max's voice asked in surprise. "Congratulations! But right now we have more pressing matters. I received a distress call from Lisbon."

"Luka?" Marinette asked.

"Rose, actually, but yes. They were under attack. Unknown assailants, unknown purpose. When she called, Viperion and She-Goat were already engaged. Then the transmission cut out."

"Do we have anyone close?" Adrien demanded, jumping up and leading the way to the office. "Madrid? London? We're on our way down."

"Madrid is off-line and I can't raise Guerrino," Max replied as the speaker hovered along behind them. Over the speaker they could hear him typing away on his computer in the headquarters under their feet. "Alya and Nino are in London, but Nino's working and Alya's hands are full. Tigress said her response team will take at least an hour to mobilize. We're the next-closest."

"Iron Maiden and Volpinax?" Marinette asked, stopping just inside the office, in front of the portrait of Adrien's mother.

"Just came off duty. Queen Bee, King Monkey, and De Gaulle are up, but they're ten minutes out."

"Open the portal," Marinette ordered, transforming as Adrien followed.

"Looks like that movie's on hold, Bugaboo," Cat Noir said, as the air in front of them swirled momentarily before resolving into a portal.

"Sorry, Kitty, guess we're going out for our anniversary this year!" Ladybug replied, stepping through the portal with a grin.

Cat Noir followed her through before removing the earwig from his staff and jamming it home. It crackled to life as Pegasus said, "Comm. check."

"Where did you send us, Pegasus?" Cat Noir asked, looking around warily. The sky above was cloudy, and a thick blanket of fog covered everything in front of him. The ground moved slightly under his feet.

"You should be on the top deck of the _Free Spirit_," came the answer. "That was the last location of their distress call."

"We're on the boat," Ladybug reported. "But it's really hazy and dark. Something feels _wrong_ here. Do you feel it, Cat?"

"Yeah," Cat Noir replied, suppressing a shiver. "The boat looks deserted. No sign of the others. But the floorboards are slick with – wait – is that _blood_?"

"Queen Bee is ready, but we're waiting until the others are together to open another portal," Pegasus informed them.

Cat Noir scanned the boat carefully, heightened ears attuned for the tiniest hint of movement. Consequently, he had exactly one second's warning before the hatch flew open and a half-dozen men with shaved heads and black robes charged out of the hold below-deck. He leapt in front of Ladybug and raised his staff to parry the sword strike that the leader had directed at her chest. The sword glanced off the staff, releasing a cascade of sparks as it did so. Cat Noir followed up by dropping to a crouch and sweeping the leader's legs out from under him. He crashed to the floorboards with a grunt, blocking the way for the rest of his men and bottling them up on the ladder. Cat Noir swung his staff overhead and brought it down hard across the man's chest, eliciting a pained grunt.

"Who are you?" Ladybug demanded, glaring at him, yo-yo in hand. "What did you do with our friends?"

"No more than what needed to be done," the leader replied. He slid his sword under the staff pinning him to the floorboards and pushed the staff up and away from his chest. Then he kicked his legs up and swung to his feet, holding the sword in front of himself with both hands. "Balance must be preserved."

"Balance?" she repeated. "But–"

"We are the Dark Acolytes of the Mundane," the leader intoned, raising his sword once more. "We exist to bring balance to the Guardians of the Miraculous. When the Miraculous and their wielders become too powerful, there must be a culling!"

"A culling," echoed other voices, surrounding Cat Noir and Ladybug.

Cat Noir tensed as he looked around at the crowd that had just appeared, hemming them in. The Acolytes on the ship had been joined by allies who had been waiting on the docks. Cat Noir spared a glance for Ladybug, who was spinning her yo-yo to one side, a calculating look in her eyes.

"A 'culling,' you say?" Cat Noir asked, keeping his tone light and conversational, his posture relaxed, despite the dread beginning to settle in his stomach. "Cull _this_!" He tensed and sprang at the same moment as Ladybug in opposite directions. Cat Noir swung his staff above his head like a helicopter blade and brought it down, hard, in a scythe motion, sweeping through the Acolytes encircling them to his side. He could sense Ladybug behind him looping her yo-yo around an Acolyte's ankle, sweeping him off his feet, and using him as a flail against the enemies on her side. Cat Noir swung upward into a back flip as Ladybug's "flail" flew under him and through the crowd. He twisted his body in midair and extended his staff, poking an Acolyte behind Ladybug in the head. That Acolyte dropped with a sickening crunch a moment before Ladybug's "flail" landed on top of him.

"You know," Cat Noir commented, dropping to the ground to crouch in front of the Acolytes' leader, "for a group with an impressive name like the 'Dark Acolytes of the Mundane,' I was expecting your guys to be a little more _dark_ and a little less _mundane_!"

The leader scoffed. "I would expect nothing less from a miraculous holder," he spat, raising his sword. "You hide behind unnatural Kwami magic while we follow the true path of the Mage!"

"Kwamis? Unnatural?" Cat Noir retorted, shortening his staff to sword length and raising it to parry the sword swinging for his head. Another shower of sparks flew over them both. "Shows how much _you_ know. The Kwamis come into existence _from_ nature. The Kwamis embody natural concepts; you don't get more _natural_ than that!"

"Bah," replied the leader, stabbing at Cat Noir's chest, a move which he effortlessly dodged before striking the leader in the side. "The Kwamis _claim_ to serve the balance of the universe, but they meddle more than anyone! The First Mage formed the Dark Acolytes of the Mundane to ensure that the Kwamis and those who would use their power are reined in, to preserve the balance of the universe!"

"Preserving the balance of the universe is what the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous do," Cat Noir retorted. "So tell you what," he added, spinning around and striking the leader on the opposite side, "how about if I _balance out_ your bruises!"

"Strike me all you wish, Cat," the leader cried, crouching and holding his sword with the point downward to block Cat Noir's next slash. "I shall nevertheless cull the miraculous! _And_ their holders! Just as I culled the three on this boat, so shall I cull you!"

Cat Noir almost missed the movement as the leader twisted his sword, stabbing upward at his thigh. However, he was knocked to the side, narrowly avoiding the blade, when Ladybug threw her yo-yo and smacked him in the hip, pushing him out of the way. Cat Noir's eyes followed the yo-yo and then went wide as the sword blade struck the yo-yo string and sliced clean through it. He followed the string back to Ladybug's hand and up to her face, where he saw the same shock mirrored on her face as on his own.

"Let the culling commence!" cried the leader of the Acolytes, springing to his feet and turning on Ladybug, sword held high.

Cat Noir dove toward Ladybug and raised his staff, extending it to interpose between her and the Acolyte leader. But before Cat Noir could block it, the leader lunged forward, sword held in front of himself, and stabbed Ladybug in the chest. Ladybug's face went slack, her eyes wide, as he plunged the sword deeper into her body to emerge from her back, and twisted violently. He jerked the sword out suddenly, and Ladybug's knees gave out as she fell forward to collapse on the deck. The leader swung around and caught Cat Noir's leg with the tip of his sword as he dove past.

"NO!" Cat Noir screamed, falling to his knees in front of Ladybug. This couldn't be happening. Their suits were supposed to be impervious to all but miraculous weapons. Ladybug – his friend, partner, lover, _wife_ – _couldn't_ be lying there in an expanding pool of her own blood. He rolled her over onto her back, cradling her to his chest. His hands trembled as he cupped her cheek in one hand, gently wiping the tears from her eye with his thumb.

"A-Adrien?" Ladybug whispered, her mouth filling with blood. She tried raising a hand to his cheek, but the hand fell. Cat Noir wrapped both arms around her, cradling her body and kissing her forehead as his tears threatened to fall. His breathing came in ragged gasps. The mother of his unborn child couldn't be dead. She couldn't. This had to be a nightmare. Any moment he would wake up in their bed again, snuggled up against the love of his life, as if none of this had happened.

"You mourn the Ladybug, Cat?" the leader taunted. "Her life has been culled by the Dark Sword of the Mundane, which was forged by the Mage in secret from the combined magic of Creation and Destruction as the ultimate balance against the unchecked might of the miraculous and their holders." He turned to the crowd and raised his voice. "The Ladybug has been culled!" he shouted, standing above Cat Noir and holding the bloody sword aloft in triumph. "Now shall the Cat be culled!"

The pounding of his blood in Cat Noir's ears nearly drowned out the voices of the acolytes as they began to chant: "The culling! The culling! The culling!"

The body in his arms did not lie. The pain in his leg was all too real; he could feel the trickle of blood escaping where the sword had pierced his suit and stabbed the flesh of his leg. There would be no waking from this nightmare.

"You made a mistake," Cat Noir ground out, burying his grief deep as he released Ladybug's body to fall limply to the ground and used his staff for push himself to his feet. The pain in his leg receded to the background as adrenalin kicked in.

"Because the Bug is no longer here to save you?" mocked the leader, brandishing the sword in front of himself.

Cat Noir let out a humorless laugh. "You think _I_ needed her to _save_ me?" he growled. His eyes narrowed and he gripped his staff as hard as if he was going to snap it in half in his rage. The acolytes took a hesitant step back as Cat Noir's vision hazed over with black smoke. "_You_ needed her to _RESTRAIN_ ME!" he roared. He eyed the Dark Acolytes appraisingly and gave his staff a testing spin. "You want a culling? _I'll_ give you a culling: _**CATACLYSM**_!"


	8. Chapter 8

_AN: I started writing this before finishing season 3, so the mechanics of the Hare/Rabbit Miraculous I use are different from the series. But the series leaves all kinds of plot holes and confusion with their version of time travel, so I'm okay with not copying them! If you want a better explanation, I wrote a 500-word tirade on the subject that I'd be happy to send you…_

_To Rose Tiger: Oh, don't worry. He will…_

_To The Keeper of Worlds: You're close. Mylène is Multiplice (Mouse Miraculous); "She-Goat" (Goat Miraculous) is Juleka. And Rose is "Piglet" (Pig Miraculous). If/when those two receive miraculous for real, I'll come up with better hero names for them!_

_Before getting into the story, I would like to apologize in advance to my readers in Portugal…_

* * *

"Oh, $#!t! This… this looks bad, Queen Bee. You need to get there _now_!"

"What about King Monkey and De Gaulle? Shouldn't I wait for the rest of the team?"

"I-I don't think you need to worry about that. I'm watching the satellite feed from headquarters and it's… gone."

"What do you mean, 'gone'? You mean the _boat_'s gone?"

"I mean _Portugal_'s gone! There was a massive release of Miraculous magic, then there was another, and then a _third_ at least three levels of magnitude greater than the first two. I-I can't contact anyone on the ground there – not our friends, not EMS, not _anyone_. I don't see Viperion, She-Goat, or Piglet anywhere – wait I-I think I see something black down there. I'm zooming in, and I can definitely see someone in black and he's…" Pegasus' voice dropped "he's kneeling over something that looks like a body. I'm opening the portal."

A swirling portal appeared in front of Queen Bee in her apartment. She stepped through it without hesitation. She blinked and lifted her hand to shade her eyes from the bright sunlight. Looking around, she saw that she was near the bottom of a long, wide, deep depression. Her first thought was that an alien giant had scooped out a huge chunk of the continent with an ice cream scoop. And right in the middle of the depression, Queen Bee could see a prone form dressed all in black, kneeling. She could just make out his shoulders quivering.

Queen Bee slowly walked over to the kneeling figure. "Cat?" she began hesitantly, reaching out a hand to touch his shoulder, only to withdraw it a moment later. "Cat Noir?"

"I tried Miraculous Ladybug, and it didn't bring her back," he said, so close to a whisper that Queen Bee had to strain to hear his words. "I tried combining the miraculous, and it didn't bring her back." He suddenly looked up at Queen Bee, anguish and accusation etched into every line of his face. "Why won't it bring her back?"

Queen Bee de-transformed and knelt next to Cat Noir, pulling him into a hug. Looking closer, Chloe could see that his suit was actually covered with red splotches in a checkerboard pattern. Examining his face, she saw earrings jammed into earring holes she knew he had not had when she'd last seen him the day before. "Cat, what did you do?" she asked urgently.

"I told you, I combined the miraculous to bring her back. But it didn't work!"

Chloe looked down at the ground in front of them, and her breath caught in her throat. There, lying on her back in a still-expanding pool of blood, was Marinette. A stab wound ran across her chest and nearly bisected her body, and her eyes were still staring forward into the sky, but without seeing. Her mouth was open in an expression of shock.

Chloe squeezed Cat Noir tighter against her chest and whispered, "What happened here? What happened to Marinette?"

"They killed her. So I killed them. And now I am Cat Bug Noir."

* * *

**Present Day**

"It took another hour to get Adrien off the ground and convince him to let the paramedics take Marinette's body for transport back to Paris. When King Monkey and De Gaulle–"

"'De Gaulle'?" Marinette asked.

"We never really got his full story," Chloe explained, shrugging. "He claimed to be the great-grandson of Charles De Gaulle, but we never confirmed that. He didn't have any powers, but he could get just about any tool you might need. And you did _not_ want to fight him hand-to-hand."

"Anyways, what happened next?" Adrien prompted, giving Marinette a look.

"When King Monkey and De Gaulle arrived, I nearly had to tackle Adrien to the ground so he wouldn't attack them," Chloe answered with a shudder. "KM and I nearly took the miraculous from him right then and there, but we thought he was just grieving, that he would recover in time. So we let him be, and we missed our chance to spare the world.

"Adrien was my best friend growing up, and I tried to comfort him as best I could after it happened, but he withdrew into himself. It was almost like he became a different person without you around to brighten his life. I'd known how special you were to him for years, Mar – it's why I made it my personal mission to get you back together after last week's breakup. Without you… without the family you were starting… I guess he decided his life just wasn't worth living anymore.

"Daddy insisted on hosting a huge state funeral a week later for Paris' fallen hero, complete with bands, a full honor guard, all the works. All the Heroes of Europe and delegations from every other hero group on the planet came to pay their respects to Earth's Greatest Hero, complete with a flyover from the Space Defense Force. Finally it was time to fold the flag and bury her beside the Arc de Triomphe. Taureau Dechaine and King Monkey did the honors of folding the flag before handing it to Cat Bug Noir, who hadn't de-transformed since her death.

"But when Taureau Dechaine went to hand the flag to Cat Bug Noir, he took one look at him and punched him in the chin so hard it snapped his neck and he flew through a dozen buildings. His body didn't stop until it slammed to the ground on the bank of the Seine and bounced into the river. Then Cat Bug Noir turned on the rest of us. 'You all think you knew her? That you _loved_ her? Where were _you_ when she died? Where were _you_ when we got called out to stop those monsters on our anniversary? I'm sick of the hypocrisy, sick of the falsehood, sick of the false friends! And I'm sick of _you_!'"

Chloe stopped. Some days this horror felt like ancient history, yet on days like today it still felt like it only happened yesterday. She closed her eyes for a moment before she continued. "Alya gave me a look of fear that shifted instantly to determination before blowing on her flute. Cat Bug Noir took one look around himself before shaking his head, reaching out, grabbing the flute out of her hands, and crushing it in his fist. He extended his staff to strike her, but Nino pulled her back behind himself, raised his shield, and used Shell-ter to form a barrier over them. Cat Bug Noir struck the Shell-ter over and over, harder and harder, with his staff, but it would not budge. Finally he jumped on top of the Shell-ter, leapt into the air, and shouted 'Cataclysm' before driving his staff like a spear into the Shell-ter. The staff shattered the Shell-ter, slammed through Nino's shield, broke his miraculous, and finally expended its Cataclysm energy on Nino himself, who turned to dust with his arm still around Alya, trying desperately to keep her safe. Alya was run through with the staff in the same strike and fell to the ground, dead. A little residual Cataclysm energy released on her miraculous, destroying it.

"By this time I had finally shaken free of my horror enough to use Venom. I threw my top at Cat Bug Noir at the same time that King Monkey threw a clothes hanger from the opposite direction. Cat Bug Noir evaded both attacks, and King Monkey's Uproar disrupted my powers just before my top would have paralyzed him. With my powers temporarily gone, I panicked. I picked up my daughter, Ana, who was standing right next to me, and ran for my life, my dying friends' screams echoing in my ears. That was the worst hero slaughter we had ever experienced, worse even than the invasion. Cat Bug Noir murdered almost all the Heroes of Europe that day, alongside half the visitors."

Chloe looked around the table at the twin expressions of shock and horror on her companions' faces. She sighed. "I am sorry to have to tell you this. But you must know what happened if you are going to help me fix my mistakes and stop him."

"But what can we do?" Marinette asked, swallowing hard.

"Only the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous are powerful enough to counter a holder of both the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous," Chloe told them. "Many other miraculous holders tried to fight Cat Bug Noir, even together. But even Soaring Eagle and Grey Wolf, the holders of the American eagle and wolf miraculous, working together with Joey, the Australian kangaroo miraculous holder, _and_ Roaring Lion and the Great Scarab, Africa's lion and scarab miraculous holders – even the five other most powerful miraculous, the most powerful of the three other miraculous sets. Even they together could not stop Cat Bug Noir. All five of them were killed at one time, and Cat Bug Noir claimed all their miraculous and added them to his own collection."

"And you want us to do what all of these people couldn't do?" Adrien demanded, wide-eyed.

"In a word, yes." Chloe nodded. "You are my only hope."

"What do you expect from us?"

"After the funeral, I went into hiding with Sabrina, Max, a few other heroes who survived the Purge. I had to keep Ana safe. We had to stay underground, keep moving so Cat Bug Noir's spies and shock troopers couldn't find us. He's been trying to collect all the world's miraculous for a decade, hoping that combining all their power might bring Marinette back. It was only a couple years ago that I was able to break into Cat Bug Noir's lair – our old headquarters under his – well, _your_ – mansion. We opened a portal into the lair, and I grabbed what I could: the box with most of Cat Bug Noir's miraculous collection and the Book of the Miraculous. Of course, he put a magical barrier around the lair to prevent any more portals as soon as we'd escaped." Chloe fell silent for a moment, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall. She hardened her gaze and continued, "It took a while for Max to decode the Book, but we figured out that only another set of Ladybug and Cat Miraculous could balance out a pair being bent to evil purposes. That's why I'm here. Simply put, I need you to stop Cat Bug Noir before he throws my universe so far out of balance that not even the miraculous can put it right again."

"And this is our future?" Adrien whispered, looking over at Marinette furtively with a pained expression on his face, which was rapidly turning green.

Chloe noticed the look and gave him a sad smile. "Not exactly," she explained. "Do you understand how the Hare Miraculous works?"

"You can travel forward and backward in time as far as you want in either direction," Marinette answered.

"That's one way of looking at it," Chloe said, nodding. "I used the miraculous to go back to a time before my younger counterpart set you up on this stupid date. However, nothing I do here alters my own past. Do you see? I walked past you while you were coming into this coffee shop, something that I do not remember happening on that day. My presence here has not changed the way things happened on this day 20 years ago in my own timeline. So I could pull out a gun and shoot you right here and now, and the events of my own timeline will still have taken place exactly the way I remember them. But I would have altered _your future_ by doing so."

"So the Hare Miraculous isn't exactly causing you to travel through your _own_ timeline," Marinette said, eyes brightening in understanding. "You're actually traveling to different _versions_ of the timeline."

"Gold star for you, sweetie," Chloe said, smiling. "Think of the Hare Miraculous as transporting you to different dimensions, or alternate realities, or something like that. If you want to strictly alter events within your own timeline, you use the snake miraculous. And the horse miraculous strictly transports you through space within the same time and dimension. So now you understand what that means, right?"

Adrien smiled in relief. "It means that whatever happened in _your_ timeline won't happen in ours."

"Almost," Chloe told him, grimacing. "Simply because I'm here, it won't happen the same way, but the big things _could_ still happen in a similar manner. The aliens could still invade in 2024, you could still marry in 2026, Mar could still be killed in 2028, you could still threaten the balance of the universe in 2039. All of that stuff _could_ happen, but it doesn't _have_ to happen. Your future is not fixed. But my past _is_. So will you help me save my present?"

Adrien and Marinette looked at each other across the table for a minute before both nodding simultaneously. "We're in," Adrien said.

* * *

_AN: Adult future-Pegasus has learned how to open portals from anywhere (within a certain range) to anywhere. In "Startrain" Max opened a portal in front of the train rather than right where he was standing, so it's not much of a stretch to say his range can expand even beyond that. All of the characters are learning to control their abilities in different ways: Adrien discovered that he can channel Cataclysm through his staff in "Milady," and Chloe was able to use Venom at a distance by throwing her top (which turns into the stinger for Venom) in "Mind Games."_


	9. Chapter 9

_To GuenZhenXuan2020: Exactly! Reinterpreting the Hare Miraculous will change what Bunnyx can do when Alix actually receives the Miraculous, making her less of a "time cop," but this eliminates a lot of inconsistencies._

_To The Keeper of Worlds: Yeah… it's gotten pretty hardcore suddenly! The next couple chapters take a bit of a breath before everything hits the fan…_

_To Speckleflower: I'm not sure if the "Reflectdoll" episode answered that question; there are some pictures of Mister Bug online, but none showing where he put the miraculous. It's a kid's show, so I assume they can be used as clip-ons or something, but… Cat Bug Noir's too mad with grief to be bothered by that!_

* * *

Marinette snuck a glance at Adrien. They had followed Old Chloe into the back room of the coffee shop, where she pulled the Hare and Snake Miraculous from a hidden pouch on the shoulder harness she wore under her suit coat. Adrien was still staring at Old Chloe in confusion, still struggling like Marinette to come to terms with the bombshell revelations this Chloe had thrown at them.

Chloe sat down and placed the Snake Miraculous bracelet on her wrist. "We've had the Box of the Miraculous for a while, but was only last month that Max figured out the precise combination of miraculous necessary to make this work. The Hare Miraculous opens a portal through time and dimensions, but the Snake Miraculous is the most important of all: it freezes your dimension in time for the duration of your mission," she explained.

"Wait, what–?"

Before Marinette could finish the question, Chloe grabbed Adrien and Marinette by the hand as the three of them were sucked downward through the portal that opened beneath their feet.

Marinette shut her eyes against the brightness of the portal. As she dropped through the floor, Marinette instinctively reached out for anything solid she could hold onto. Her free hand found a shirt, and pulled herself close to it. An arm wrapped itself around her, and she buried her face in the shirt, taking in the familiar scent: Adrien. Marinette put her arm around him, and she felt him squeeze her reassuringly.

Marinette sighed just before the portal dropped them to the ground. She let go of Chloe's hand, but hesitated to let go of Adrien; he felt familiar, comforting. She opened her eyes to look around. They were standing on a floor of broken tiles, piles of debris scattered everywhere she could see. The overhead light flickered, casting uneven shadows across the large open space. Expanding her view, Marinette saw sleeping bags clustered together in little groups. Against one wall a few crates were pushed together to form a makeshift table, with camp stoves set on one side of it. A little further along the wall she found a group of ratty-looking chairs grouped together in a circle. Her eyes followed the colored lines dividing the room and found them ending at a platform edge.

She didn't have time to comment on their location, however; motion on the far end of the repurposed metro station drew their attention. Marinette felt Adrien tense as he released his hold on her and stepped forward, putting himself between her and the newcomers. He immediately relaxed, and looking around him Marinette recognized Max and Sabrina walking toward them, followed by a crowd of other people.

Chloe walked toward the approaching crowd, nodding to Max as she did so. "Any trouble while I was gone?" she asked sharply, pulling the Horse Miraculous from her pouch and passing it to Max.

Max shook his head. "Cat Bug's troops stayed up above, and we stayed down here. A couple stopped on the steps, but the lookout spotted them coming, and they didn't find us."

"Good," Chloe acknowledged. She looked around through the crowd. "But where is–?"

"Ana?" Max asked. "Went up top on lookout duty."

"I told you I didn't want her leaving headquarters!"

"She's 14, Chlo," Max replied, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We weren't much older when we received our miraculous. You can't protect her forever. This is as much her fight as ours. Maybe even more."

"I know. I just – I wanted to keep her safe a little longer."

Max nodded to one of the others standing behind him, who immediately jogged over to the exit stairs and whistled. Marinette heard a faint answering whistle from above, at which point the man ran up the stairs two at a time. A minute later, a girl descended the stairs and walked over to their group.

The girl – Ana – looked to be only a couple years younger than Marinette herself, but already the same height as her. Her long reddish brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She had brown eyes and a dark complexion. She wore combat pants and a brown T-shirt; a glance at the rest of the crowd showed that everyone was dressed similarly. For jewelry Ana wore a simple pair of earrings and an old charm bracelet that looked handmade.

"This is your daughter?" Adrien asked as Ana approached them.

"Yes, she is," Chloe replied proudly, pulling her girl in for a tight hug and kissing her on the forehead.

"Who's her father?" Marinette asked.

"Nino." Chloe laughed gently at the confusion on both their faces. "I never said I gave birth to her. She was orphaned at 2 years old, when I saved her and adopted her."

"What about godparents?" Marinette asked, her heart pounding in her chest on looking at the girl who could almost have been Alya's twin.

"We were at my godmother's funeral," Ana said, giving Marinette an assessing look before turning to glare at Adrien, "when my _godfather_ murdered my parents."

Ana turned around and stormed off toward the stairs. Chloe made a move to follow her, but Max put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. Sabrina transformed and released an Akuma toward Ana's receding form. The Akuma merged into her charm bracelet and she gave a resigned nod before vanishing from view in a puff of violet smoke.

On an impulse, Marinette squeezed Adrien's hand and ran toward where Ana had disappeared. "Ana! Where are you? Wait up!" she called when she reached the spot. She looked around in confusion before feeling a hand grab her shoulder. She looked behind her and saw Ana. "What–?"

"Aunt Sabrina," Ana explained, taking Marinette's hand and leading the way up the stairs. "We can't be sure where Cat Bug Noir's spies are or when his shock troopers might show up, so Aunt Sabrina gives us invisibility when we go up past the lookout post." She raised their joined hands. "We can also extend that invisibility to others by contact. This way, no one can see us or hear us. Aunt Sabrina can still keep track of us telepathically, though." She was quiet for a moment. Marinette looked over to see that her eyes had lost focus. The moment passed, and Ana turned back to her and continued, "Aunt Sabrina says she won't listen to our conversation, but to let her know if we get in trouble."

Marinette smiled. "Your mother could do something similar with Mirage," she said in answer to Ana's questioning look. "She created a Mirage of nothing around us so that we could go to Master Fu's dojo without being seen. But she said the first time she used it she thought her opponent could hear her. This… this is very clever. I'll have to tell our Sabrina about it… when I get home."

The two of them walked side by side up the stairs, past a lookout crouching behind a sheet of metal. From the front, Marinette could see that the lookout post was disguised as a loose pile of debris that had fallen when the ceiling caved in.

"What happened here?" Marinette asked as they climbed the steps, past partially-decomposed trash strewn over piles of loose stones.

"There was an earthquake," Ana told her, leading her through a virtually-undetectable pathway between the debris. "It was at… _your_… funeral. When Taureau Dechaine's body landed, or so my Mom tells me, it shook the ground in this part of Paris, and then the Cataclysm that – that he used – that merged in with the ground shake and caused a quake. The metro lines were cut off, so people stopped coming down here. Everything changed that day, so the trash and refuse here is all I've ever known.

"I don't really remember much from that day." Ana kicked a loose pebble to one side, studiously avoiding looking at Marinette. "I was only 2 at the time. One minute I was holding my mother's hand and crying, and the next minute Mom was picking me up and holding me to her chest so I couldn't see anything, covering my ears to muffle the screams."

"Were you close with – with them?" Marinette asked, studying the girl's face.

"Mom tells me that I always begged to go over to their house when we were in Paris," Ana answered. "She says that the few times all five of you were together, I would light up when he held me, and he would have the biggest smile on his face.

"I don't remember any of it. All I've seen of him in the last 12 years are the billboards and posters of his face. The reminders of everything we lost."

"Billboards?"

"Take a look."

Marinette looked around as they reached ground level and gasped as she saw what surrounded them. She recognized where they were immediately: they were only a block away from the Seine, looking over what had once been a park. However, the river itself was flowing sluggishly, clogged up as it was with debris. To the left, Marinette could see where a bridge had fallen into the river; that accounted for some of its stagnation. Logs from a dozen trees had caught on the fallen blocks from the bridge, creating a makeshift dam. Closer to them, the park had become overgrown with weeds. The bushes were unkempt. The grass looked as though it had not been cut in the 12 years since her counterpart's death. A large tree had fallen over onto the playground equipment in the middle of the park, crushing a jungle gym underneath.

Marinette's jaw dropped open as she stepped forward. Her feet crunched on broken glass and discarded soda cans. Ana followed her, a grim set to her jaw. The park was surrounded by old brick buildings, all of which were in a state of disrepair. One of the buildings had a gaping hole in its side, about two floors above the ground. Marinette walked closer to the river, dragging Ana behind her, to look into the building through the hole. When they were closer to the river, standing in front of a deep indentation in the ground, Marinette looked back and saw that the hole went straight through the building; through it she could just make out a pillar that looked like the remains of the Arc du Triomphe. To either side of the hole were pictures of an older man Marinette still recognized as Adrien, his face covered by a black mask with red polka-dots, staring down at them with a scowl under a caption reading "Cat Bug Noir Sees All."

Opposite those posters Marinette saw another poster, this one depicting a line of soldiers dressed all in black with red polka-dotted armbands. This one bore the caption "Cat Bug Noir Maintains Order."

Marinette's mouth felt dry. She couldn't bring herself to look away. "I-I don't believe it," she whispered.

"Believe it," Ana told her harshly. "This is what happened to my world, to my family."

Marinette looked at Ana, tears in her eyes. "Adrien wasn't always like this," she said, putting her free hand on Ana's shoulder. "The Adrien I know is sweet and kind and gentle. He is selfless and noble. The Adrien I know – the Adrien who came here with me – would never do something like this."

"I know." Ana let out a bark of laughter. "Believe me, I know all about how Cat Bug Noir _used_ to be. That was one of Mom's favorite subjects growing up: poor, sweet Adrien, the son of a sociopath who grew up to become a mass murdering psychopath." She turned away to stare at a bush. "She told me all about Adrien, but she never said anything about the rest of you, at least not before you were 16.

"I don't know anything about my parents when they were my age."

Marinette let out a breath and led Ana over to a bench. "Chloe wasn't really friends with me or your parents before we were all 16," she explained as they sat side-by-side. "She was actually more of a bully in those days: always mean to me, putting me down. But she idolized Ladybug." Marinette smiled as she gazed out over the bracken Seine. "Imagine her shock to find out – just a couple months ago for me – that poor, klutzy Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the girl she mocked and teased mercilessly, was actually her idol, Ladybug!"

"How did you and my parents get to be friends?" Ana asked eagerly. "What were they like growing up? Were they always planning on getting married and having a family? How many siblings did they want me to have?"

"Slow down, girl!" Marinette said, smiling and holding her free hand out. "I can't answer all your questions at once. But as for how we met…"


	10. Chapter 10

_To The Keeper of Worlds: Considering that they are all still just 16 or so, they have a _long_ time before they need to worry about that! I am not planning to write any teen pregnancy stories…_

_To geekqueen2010 (if you've gotten this far): Thanks for reading and reviewing so much of what I read yesterday. It was amazing to follow the review notifications!_

* * *

Two hours later, Marinette and Ana made their way back to the stairwell down to the metro station. Looking from this direction, the path they had followed to the surface was completely invisible; Marinette couldn't tell anyone had been to the abandoned station in a decade.

"I love your earrings!" Marinette commented, studying them more closely. One was shaped like a horseshoe, and the other a butterfly.

"These? I actually made them myself, a couple weeks ago to honor Uncle Max and Aunt Sabrina," Ana told her, fingering the earrings. "There isn't much to do, but we've got tons of garbage lying around and nothing to do with it, so I work it into jewelry."

"Did you make your charm bracelet, too?" Marinette pointed at the now-violet bracelet.

"I found the chain when I was really little," she answered, nodding. "Then, as I found scraps I could use, I worked them into the shapes I wanted. See?" She held the bracelet up, pointing to each charm as she described them. "Fox and turtle for my parents, bee for Mom, ladybug for… well, you. When I found this little piece of black metal, Mom suggested that I should finish the set by working it into a cat. This way, it feels like I'm always carrying a piece of them – the way things should have been – with me."

"That's quite a talent you have," Marinette observed as she followed Ana along the path. "So how did you get to be part of your Mom's group?"

"I guess I was raised into it," Ana replied with a shrug. "Mom found all the heroes who survived, along with a few people who wanted a chance to stop Cat Bug Noir, and brought them all down here. I remember there being more at one point, but Mom had a few missions go badly, so now we're all that's left. In a sense, this is all I've ever known. Mom didn't want me to be involved any more than I had to be, but Aunt Sabrina has helped me find ways to be part of things – hunting for supplies, going out on patrols, and the like. She's even been training me. I was only 2 when he took over, so he doesn't know what I look like today. That gives me an edge.

"I want to do more, but Mom still thinks of me as a child to protect."

"You're lucky you have someone who loves you," Marinette told her. "When Adrien was growing up, he had nobody after his mother died."

"He had you and my parents. He had my Mom," Ana objected.

"Well, yes, but it's not the same as a loving parent. I'm glad Chloe has been caring for you."

"I guess." Ana frowned. "I just wish she wouldn't treat me like I'm a child."

Marinette giggled. "You _are_ a child. But it's okay," she quickly added, seeing the hurt in Ana's eyes. "We were _all_ children when we started. I was your age when Master Fu made me the new Ladybug. I know your parents would want you to be safe, even though they would be proud of you."

"I just – I want to help," Ana said, running a hand through her hair. "I want to help put what's left of my world back in balance."

At that moment they arrived in the main room, and the butterfly detached from Ana's charm bracelet, changed back to white, and returned to Impératrice Pourpre, who immediately detransformed. Marinette looked around and saw that the whole group had gathered around the tables with the camp stoves and were eating a meager meal. Sabrina went over and nudged Chloe, who looked up and waved the two of them over. Marinette released Ana's hand and helped herself to the rice dish simmering on one stove before taking the empty seat next to Adrien. Ana sat opposite Marinette, between Chloe and Max.

"Did the two of you have a good chat?" Chloe asked, passing a bowl of wilted vegetables to Marinette.

"I had no idea that's what you were like at my age!" Ana told her, grabbing a handful of carrots.

"Were you telling her stories about _me_?" Chloe demanded. She smirked. "Do I have to even the score with some stories about _you_? Perhaps that time you stepped in a pie while trying to kiss Adrien?"

"Oh, please, no," Marinette groaned, burying her head in her hands to hide her flushed face.

"Hmm, perhaps after you're back home," Chloe said pensively. "But then the gloves are off!"

"So why did you say this is _your_ mistake before we left?" Adrien asked, taking a bite of his dinner. "I mean, you're not the one who made future-me do all of this. It's not _your_ fault."

"Isn't it?" Chloe replied, looking him in the eye intently. "If I had done any of a number of things differently, perhaps this would never have happened. If Kim and I hadn't gotten in each other's way at the funeral, we might have disrupted his powers, paralyzed him, and taken his miraculous before anyone else got hurt. If we had acted in Portugal after Mar's death, same thing – _he_ certainly wasn't in a position to stop us! I was even hugging him before the others arrived, and the earrings were right there… I was just too wrapped up in my grief to realize how close to the edge he really was.

"But all of that pales in comparison to my greatest mistake: the one I interrupted earlier today."

Marinette looked over at Adrien, uneasy. "You mean…"

Chloe's face fell and she put her arm around Ana's shoulders. She explained, "I mean what I finally realized after all of this happened, while I was consoling Ana and trying to keep her quiet so Adrien wouldn't find us the night after the funeral. I should not have pushed you back together before you were really ready to talk about the _why_. _Why_ did you react the way you did when Adrien nearly beat three bad guys to death? _Why_ did Adrien react to you getting shot the way that he did? That was an important discussion for you to have, and if you'd actually had that conversation when you were finally ready for it and not when _I_ thought you should be… I don't know, maybe you would have worked it all out in the end and everything would be sunshine and roses right now.

"Instead, I forced you back together at the worst possible time. The initial shock had worn off so you weren't ready to just pick up and move forward to confront this later. But you hadn't gotten to the point of being ready to really dive into it. Instead, you were ready to do absolutely anything to get back what you had before. Adrien was ready to just accede to your request and promise to be a good boy, just so you would talk to him again, Mar."

"I wasn't–" Adrien began, before Chloe cut him off.

"You _did_, or at least in this timeline you did," she told him. She scoffed. "I was there, remember? I saw it in your eyes before I walked out of the coffee shop, even though I wasn't willing to admit it. I saw it in your eyes again after your 'talk.' You came out and met me and Alya and told us that everything was fine, you'd learned your lesson, and you were going to find a better way to respond if Marinette ever got hurt. Only you _didn't_. You probably meant it at the time, but you didn't have any reason to follow through. Mar was just as desperate to have you back as you were to have her, so it's not like _she_ wanted to revisit this issue later!"

"Even if all of that is true, it's still not your fault," Adrien insisted. "You can't take responsibility for _his_ actions."

"Oh, I know," Chloe answered, chuckling ruefully. "This guilt is a never-ending cycle: I throw the blame at myself for the fact that we're hiding down here scavenging for scraps, I realize it was Adrien who actually did this, I remember my part in causing it… and the cycle continues. I may have planted some of the seeds 20 years ago, but it was Adrien who watered them. My therapist will have a field day with me if we ever get back to _having_ those again! But that's a discussion for another day, when we've fixed all of this and restored balance to the universe."

The group finished their meal and cleaned up the eating area in silence after that. Chloe showed Marinette and Adrien the small storage closet they had emptied out and converted into a pantry for their scavenged food supplies. "There's not much in here," she told them, "but you can help yourselves if you get hungry later. For now, however, you'd better rest up, sweeties. Tomorrow's going to be a big day."

Marinette nodded and went over to the pile of sleeping bags, followed by Adrien. She pulled a Ladybug-patterned one out of the pile and dragged it to the far corner of the station. Adrien set the plain black sleeping bag he had chosen a meter away from hers, pulled off his shoes, and slid inside. Marinette got into her own sleeping bag and lay down, staring at the cracked tiling of the ceiling. A light on the other side of the station buzzed and flickered intermittently. Someone nearby let out a snort, and Marinette jumped. Tikki had already curled up next to Marinette's head and fallen asleep, her breathing relaxed and even, but Marinette couldn't sleep. She looked over at Adrien's sleeping bag. He had fallen asleep on his side, facing her. His eyes were closed, his mouth slightly open.

Marinette closed her eyes, but sleep eluded her. Everything was so new and confusing. In this world she and Adrien had gotten married and she'd been pregnant with a baby. And then, before they could enjoy their "happily ever after," she had been killed and Adrien had gone mad with grief. And now she was expected to fix this world again!? After future-Marinette's love for future-Adrien was the thing that threw it so far out of balance in the first place? She rolled over and stared at the tiled wall, following the cracks with her eyes. Each crack spider-webbed out into its own tiny pattern of cracks, each of which led to its own series of cracks. As she examined the wall more closely, she realized that each and every tile had a crack in it; if someone wanted to restore just this one wall, he would have to replace every single tile. That would be the work of many lifetimes! She buried her face in the pillow and groaned. How could she defeat Cat Bug Noir and restore balance to an entire universe?

She should have stayed in her own universe with Adrien.

_Adrien_.

She was not alone. She was not alone here, and she was not alone in this mission.

Marinette quietly slipped out of her sleeping bag and tiptoed over to Adrien's. He didn't wake up as she unzipped the sleeping bag, slid inside, and turned to rest her back against his warm chest. She wrapped his arm around her chest, leaned back against him, and fell asleep to the rhythm of his breathing and steady beating of his heart against her back.


	11. Chapter 11

_To GuenZhenXuan2020: Considering how far out of balance this world has become, just defeating him by itself would not restore balance to the world; it would take a lot more effort than that! And I think bringing people back to life might actually imbalance the world further._

_To The Keeper of Worlds: Haha, sorry for assuming. We'll see how the relationship progresses between those three moving forward. There's a lot of story left before we get to that point, so we will see what happens!_

_To anonymousfriend27: Glad you enjoyed that! This chapter starts with the follow-up from it…_

* * *

Adrien woke up slowly to the scent of cinnamon and vanilla, with something tickling his nose. He started to stretch his arm only to realize something warm was pressing up against his chest. When he opened his eyes, his vision was filled with all-too-familiar jet-black hair. He smiled and dropped his hand down to rest on her stomach. The soft rising and falling of Marinette's chest showed that she was still asleep. Although the light streaming in through the entryway showed it to be early morning, the station was still quiet, with only a couple of people moving around on the far side of the station near the dining area. Adrien leaned in and pulled Marinette closer to himself, sighing in contentment.

Marinette suddenly tensed in Adrien's arms and her breathing stopped. He lifted his arm away from her immediately, and she slowly relaxed again before leaning back into his chest.

"I'm sorry," Marinette whispered, so quietly Adrien strained to hear it.

"Why are you sorry, Milady?" He found her hand with his and squeezed it gently.

"I've been giving you the cold shoulder for a week," she replied, a little louder. "Then, last night when I couldn't sleep, I snuck in here with you to feel safe. I shouldn't have used you like that. You-you deserve better from me."

"It's okay, Milady," Adrien whispered in her ear. "It doesn't matter if you're upset with me. I would still do anything for you."

Marinette rolled over to face him, propping herself up with her elbow as she did so. Adrien copied her posture, propping himself up on his elbow and putting his other arm around her waist. She glanced down at his arm but didn't say anything. Instead, she fixed him with her bluebell eyes and smiled ruefully.

"I know, Kitty," she told him, "and I guess that's my problem."

Adrien furrowed his brow.

"That's why we're here, isn't it?" she explained, gesturing at the station around them. "I-I feel like all of this is _my fault_! This version of you really would do absolutely anything for his version of me – and when I… when I _died_… that included murdering his friends and threatening the balance of the universe."

Adrien nodded glumly, letting out a frustrated breath as he did so. "Don't remind me," he muttered, looking away from her face. "It's bad enough hearing about you being murdered – I _still_ can't get that image out of my mind! But then that I would murder Nino and leave his daughter an orphan? That I could be responsible for such… _atrocities_–"

"He's not you, Adrien," Marinette interrupted, putting her hand on his cheek and bringing his eyes back to meet hers. "He's a different version of you. But I can still see in you a little of what made him do what he did. I've known for years that you would take a hit for me, that you would do anything you possibly could to keep me safe."

Adrien nodded fervently. "Absolutely, Milady. I would never let anyone hurt you."

"This summer, you showed me that you would even die to keep me safe when you fought your father singlehandedly for me," Marinette continued, blushing. "I _adore_ that about you. You make me feel safe." Her cheeks turned a brighter shade of red as she leaned in to rest her head on Adrien's arm. "That's why I needed you last night.

"But I'm scared. What if I get hurt and you react the way _this_ Adrien did? What if the jewelry store happens again, but I'm actually hurt? Would you do something like this? Would it be _my fault_? That's why I need to know: Would you kill for me? I don't mean fighting the people who hurt me to save us and protect our miraculous. I don't mean stopping the bad guys." Marinette looked up into his eyes, her own eyes glistening with unshed tears, fear written across her face, as she asked, "Would you do all of _this_ if I was killed?"

Adrien looked away. He couldn't bear to see her shouldering guilt for something she hadn't done. He wanted nothing more than to ease her mind, reassure her that he wouldn't do something like this in her name – that even if he _did_, it wouldn't be her fault. But why couldn't he get the words out? "I don't know," he finally admitted. He looked down at her and wrapped his arm around her waist tighter. "If some murderer walked in here right now and pointed a gun at your head, I would do whatever it took to protect you – whether that meant taking the bullet myself or whether that meant Cataclysming him into ash. I can understand some of what this Adrien felt after watching his Marinette killed; I don't think I would do _this_, but I really don't know _what_ I would do if I lost you, Princess."

Marinette nodded and buried her face in his chest. Adrien wrapped his arms around her and held her. "I hope you don't have to find out," she whispered softly.

"Ah, you're awake," Chloe said, squatting next to their sleeping bag. Adrien blushed and pulled the sleeping bag up to hide Marinette's pigtails. "Please," Chloe chuckled. "I remember the two of you at this age: virtually inseparable for your first year of dating."

"We-we weren't–" Adrien stammered.

"As far as _this_ universe is concerned," Chloe interrupted him, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste got married 14 years ago. Although I suppose that would have made the two of you _toddlers_… In any event, it doesn't matter to _me_ what you do here. But," she added, giving Adrien a hard look, "I can't say the same for your future Weredad-in-law back home!"

He blanched. "Yes, ma'am."

"Oh, you make me feel old. You're worse than Ana!" Chloe shook her head. "Call me 'ma'am' again and I will Venom you and force you to watch _Terminator 12: The Schwartzening_ on repeat for 24 hours straight! But you need to be getting up now anyways. We've got a big day ahead of us."

* * *

"So what's the plan?" Adrien asked, sitting down at the table across from Chloe and Max. He pulled a bowl of rice toward himself and dug in voraciously. Next to him, Marinette did the same.

"It's pretty simple," Chloe explained. "We fight our way into Cat Bug Noir's compound, defeat him, and take the miraculous away from him. Simple."

"I guess we have to take your word that this is 'simple,'" Adrien said, raising an eyebrow.

"I said 'simple,' _Adrikins_. I didn't say easy," Chloe retorted.

"What if I get a chance to Cataclysm the miraculous apart? Then he can't use them to imbalance the universe any more than it already has been."

Max paled under his dark complexion. "You cannot destroy the miraculous!" Max told him. "That would be the worst fate imaginable! It would send the universe spinning out of balance!"

"What does that mean?" Marinette asked, giving Adrien a nervous look.

"You didn't explain it to them?" Max asked, turning on Chloe accusingly.

Chloe shrugged. "It never came up."

"What's going on?" Adrien asked nervously.

Max rubbed his forehead and sighed. "The ladybug and cat miraculous cannot be destroyed, nor can Tikki and Plagg be removed from their own universe, without the universe itself being thrown out of balance and destroyed. That's why we can't just destroy either of his miraculous."

Adrien's jaw dropped in horror. Beside him, Marinette's face showed the same expression, her breakfast forgotten. "What are you saying?" Adrien demanded. "Did we doom our universe by coming here?"

"Psh, please." Chloe waved a hand dismissively. "Give us a _little_ more credit than that. I froze your universe in time using the snake miraculous. So the Kwamis were there one moment, and then they will be there the next. Time is not moving, so at no _time_ will they have actually been gone. You just can't forget your Kwamis when we send you back."

"Okay, so if that's the plan, when are we doing it? Right now?" Marinette asked.

"Not just yet," Max replied. "We have one stop to make first, if everyone's ready." When they nodded, he stood up, transformed, and opened a portal.

* * *

Chloe and Max led the way through the portal, followed by Adrien and Marinette. Just as the portal was about to close, Ana jumped through. Chloe turned around on hearing her grunt.

"Ana! How many times do I have to tell you? You have to stay at home!"

"I'm 14, Mom!" Ana retorted, hands on her hips. "I'm not a child. I want to help!"

"We can't risk another portal until we return," Pegasus told Chloe, de-transforming. "She'll be safe enough with all of us here. Especially if he joins us."

Adrien looked around. They were far from the city, though he could make out the tops of a few buildings over the treetops. Directly in front of them was a small makeshift hut built on the banks of a small creek. A small fire burned in a pit to one side of the front door, over which a cooking pot was suspended. A clothesline stretched from one corner of the hut to a nearby tree, but the clothesline held nothing but squirrel pelts at the moment.

"Who lives here?" Adrien wondered.

"Go away!" a voice shouted from inside the hut.

"Get out here, you dumb jock!" Max shouted back.

"'Dumb jock'?" the voice roared. The door slammed open. "What are you, a teenager?"

"A couple of us are," Ana retorted.

"Why I ought to–" Kim stepped out, blinking and shading his eyes with a hand. The Monkey Miraculous circlet gleamed in the sunlight. He caught sight of the group and immediately growled, "No."

"I haven't asked you anything," Chloe replied, arching an eyebrow.

"You're going to ask me exactly the same thing you've asked a million times before, and I'm going to give you exactly the same answer you've gotten a million times before: No. I'm not going to help you get yourself killed trying to fight Cat Boy."

"Don't you feel just a _little_ bit of remorse for sitting on the sidelines out here all these years while we've been fighting and dying back home?"

"Let me think about that… _No_. We can't fight him: he's just too strong. We can either _try_ to fight him and get pancaked like Ivan or dusted like Nino and Alya, or we can stay out of his way, keep our heads down, and _survive_."

"That's my _parents_ you're talking about!" Ana looked ready to throw herself at Kim, but Chloe put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Ana took a deep breath, huffed, and fixed Kim with an angry glare.

Kim took a close look at the girl. "'Your–' no… I don't believe it: _you're_ Ana?" He laughed. "The last time I saw you was – it must have been 10 years ago, right after our failed attempt to poison him, when Alix was killed. You've gotten so tall!"

"Those are my parents that you are talking about," Ana repeated, grinding her teeth. "How can you be so flippant about their deaths? Weren't you friends?"

"Child," he replied sadly, "I _was_ their friend. I mourned your parents and everyone else we lost that day. I spent a year blaming myself for failing to stop him when I had the chance, but then I figured out I had to move on. We can't fight him by ourselves. Even if I hit him with Uproar, That's not enough to _really_ stop him."

"So, what, you're just going to stay out here alone and vulnerable? What if he shows up?" Max asked.

"He did show up once, a few years ago," Kim answered ruefully. "He saw _me_ as a threat. Ha!" He barked out a laugh. "As if _I_ could threaten _him_!

"I told him I was perfectly content to keep on living here, but that I would Uproar him and escape if he tried to attack me. I said I couldn't stop him, and I really didn't care to try. Eventually we came to an agreement: he doesn't bother me, and I don't try anything against him. So I'm going to sit here in my little hut and eat squirrels until Cat Boy finally bites it." He stopped and looked at the group more closely. "I don't see Mylène here. How is she?"

"He killed her," Chloe retorted harshly. "Two years ago, on the _last_ mission you refused to help us on."

"Damn." Kim looked momentarily ashamed. "I always liked her, even if she changed after Ivan…"

"She died for her son. She died for a better future," Chloe told him.

"That's just it: she died," Kim replied, giving her a patronizing look. "You don't have any chance against him. So what do you think could possibly convince me to give up what little I have, attack the Cat, and paint a target on my back?"

"This time, you actually _have_ a chance," Adrien announced, stepping forward.

Kim eyed him warily. "You look like Agreste, but I know you can't be him."

"He's not _your_ Adrien Agreste," Marinette said, stepping forward and taking Adrien's hand in her own, interlacing their fingers. Kim's eyes went wide. "He's mine. Chloe brought us here from 20 years in your past, all so we can help you with _your_ Adrien problem."

"Mylène didn't die for nothing," Max explained. "Her final mission succeeded."

"So we have a Ladybug and Cat Noir on our side," Ana said, folding her arms and glaring at him. "We have people who are going to fight and maybe even die for this world. We are _going_ to attack him, and they are _going_ to defeat him. Now are you going to be such a coward that you hide out here in your sad little hut on le Rhodon, or are you going to _man up_ and come with us?"

Kim put a hand on his circlet as he thought. Adrien watched with bated breath. Suddenly Kim laughed sheepishly. "I never understood until this moment why Nino was always so terrified of Alya. Yes! Fine! I'll go with you people. We're probably all going to die a miserable death, but I guess I'd rather go down fighting than keep eating squirrels!"

* * *

_Le Rhodon is a river in a park southwest of Paris. Having never been to Europe before, I have no idea if it's realistic for Kim to hide out there, but it's a dystopian alternate future, so let's say that it will work 20 years from now after 12 years of world domination by Cat Bug Noir!_


	12. Chapter 12

_To The Keeper of Worlds: I don't want to spoil anything, but there is some combining of miraculous powers in this story…_

* * *

Ladybug stood on the Metro platform with Cat Noir on one side of her and King Monkey on the other. Impératrice Pourpre stood behind her next to a man in green that she had transformed into "Enhancer" to boost her power, and Pegasus and Queen Bee stood together in front, facing them and the crowd of volunteers who were joining them for the fight. All of the volunteers had already received an Akuma from Impératrice Pourpre, granting them the abilities they would need to hold Cat Bug Noir's shock troopers at bay long enough for Ladybug and Cat Noir to find Cat Bug Noir and end his reign of terror.

"I'm still not sure about the multiple Akumas thing," Ladybug whispered to Cat Noir.

"It does bring back memories, doesn't it?" he whispered back. "But we're the ones who gave Sabrina the miraculous in the first place. We still trust her, right?"

Queen Bee interrupted Ladybug's reply, stepping forward and calling out, "Right. In a few moments, Pegasus will open a portal outside Agreste's front gate. And then the battle will begin. This isn't about rescuing a prisoner. It's not about reclaiming his stolen miraculous. This is about the fate of our universe. If we fail, that's it; there's nothing left: he will win.

"So we absolutely cannot fail! We have Ladybug and Cat Noir! We have each other! We will fight for each other! We will fight for those we've lost! We will fight for those we love! We will fight, and we will win!"

Queen Bee stepped back and nodded to Pegasus. Pegasus said, "Kaalki, Wayzz, Unify!" Wayzz was sucked into the damaged Turtle Miraculous on his wrist as bright green light covered him. When it faded, his dark brown suit had a turned mottled green and a shield had appeared on his back. He turned toward the abandoned rails and shouted, "Voyage – Shell-ter!"

A portal opened in front of him through which Ladybug recognized the front gate of the Agreste mansion. The gate itself, however, was tinted green by a straight Shell-ter-wall which had formed several meters in front of the portal. A pair of Chloe's volunteers who had received wings flew through the portal and shot upward into the sky. Queen Bee and King Monkey followed them through, with the rest of the volunteers hot on their heels. Even before she stepped through the portal, Ladybug could see the black-clad forms of Cat Bug Noir's shock troopers racing toward the gate. The first wave raised their weapons, but before they could fire, a stream of photonic energy lanced out from one side of the Shell-ter, started on one side of the formation, and arced across the lawn. The first wave of shock troopers fell.

As she leapt through the portal, Cat Noir at her side, Ladybug hid her eyes from a bright, greenish-brown light in the lawn. When she looked back, one of the shock troopers had transformed. Instead of the black-and-red, he wore a suit of mottled brown and green with a row of spikes running down the back. His helmet was adorned with a pair of angry-looking red eyes. He shouted something indistinct and stomped his foot. The ground beneath Ladybug's feet began to rumble. The lawn in front of the new miraculous user was pushed up into a berm at the same time that a crack in the ground shot toward the gate and the Shell-ter beyond it.

"That's the Dinosaur Miraculous!" Queen Bee called out. "King Monkey, you're up!"

Impératrice Pourpre released an Akuma toward King Monkey, who sprouted wings and leapt into the air. "Uproar!" he shouted, and released the pineapple that appeared above him toward the Dinosaur Miraculous holder the moment it was within reach. The pineapple splattered across his helmet as the crack reached the gate. The gate shattered and fell to the ground, and the crack stopped expanding.

"It's a Flying Monkey King!" Cat Noir yelled next to Ladybug. He twirled his staff to deflect an energy blast, as Ladybug spun her yo-yo to deflect one from the opposite direction.

"Yeah, yeah, you can take a picture for Kim later, Kitty," she retorted. "Now let's move!"

Ladybug followed Cat Noir around the edge of the Shell-ter, taking cover behind his constantly-spinning staff. Cat Noir led the way through the shattered gate before turning to face the first group of shock troopers. Ladybug turned the opposite direction and felt him take a step backward so they were standing back-to-back. From the corner of her eye, Ladybug saw one of the troopers lowering his plasma gun to fire, and moved to deflect it, as Cat Noir did the same in the other direction. They spun around, blocking and attacking in a complicated dance. Ladybug swung her yo-yo and caught the closest pair of troopers. She yanked them toward her and ducked as Cat swung his staff and hit both in the head with a sickening crunch. They collapsed in a heap as Ladybug released them and caught her yo-yo.

At that moment Ladybug caught a flash of red-brown hair in her peripheral vision as Ana ran past her, dropped into a forward roll, and grabbed a fallen trooper's plasma gun. In the same motion she rose to one knee, aiming over the bodies of the fallen troopers. The front rank of oncoming shock troopers fell back under her fire. Ladybug saw a helmet lift to Ana's left as a gun barrel came up, and jumped forward. She deflected the plasma blast with her yo-yo at the last moment.

"Ana! I told you to stay home!" Queen Bee shrieked. Ladybug glanced where the shout had come from to see Queen Bee with a half-dozen troopers trussed up in her top string. Impératrice Pourpre put a hand on Queen Bee's shoulder and shook her head before releasing an Akuma in their direction.

Ladybug continued to spin her yo-yo on one side of Ana, as Cat Noir move to cover their other flank. The Akuma melted into Ana's charm bracelet and she gave a quick nod before disappearing in lavender smoke. When the smoke cleared, Ladybug was surprised to see that Ana's transformation had taken a radically-different form to that of Chloe's other volunteers, most of whom had received relatively-simple abilities. Instead, Ana's suit appeared to be an amalgamation of Ladybug, Cat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Queen Bee, with all of their colors blending together in a patchwork pattern. On her back was a green shield, a red-and-yellow yo-yo with a tiny point on one side was wrapped around her waist above a black-and-orange tail, and she held a black staff with an orange mouthpiece on one end.

"Ana?" Ladybug asked hesitantly, deflecting a plasma blast back toward the crowd of troopers.

"'Miracle Girl,'" she corrected, sliding the shield onto her arm and ducking behind it to avoid a barrage of plasma blasts. "Remember I said Aunt Sabrina's been training me? Now you see how."

"Your mother would be proud; she was always charging into the thick of things, even without a miraculous," Ladybug told her. "Are you merging all 5 of our miraculous powers?"

"Not exactly. None of what I can do is as powerful as the real deal. But watch this!" Before Ladybug could react, Miracle Girl used her flute-staff to vault into the heart of the cluster of troopers and shouted, "Venom-ter!" the moment before she landed. A green sphere expanded in all directions from her shield, changing to yellow as it touched her yo-yo-top. As she landed among the troopers and they came into contact with the sphere, they fell to the ground, frozen. Miracle Girl ran inside the sphere, using it like a hamster ball and rolling it further into the crowd of troopers.

Cat Noir grabbed Ladybug around the waist and used his own staff to vault the two of them toward Miracle Girl. Before they landed, however, a pair of the troopers on the ground suddenly leapt into the air, activating jetpacks on their backs. The two jet troopers snatched Ladybug and Cat Noir in midair and rocketed upward into the sky.

Ladybug's eyes watered as the wind whipped around her. She tried to call out for Cat Noir, but the wind tore the words out of her mouth. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him struggling with his captor. She caught his eye and nodded, a moment before he extended the staff, striking both jetpacks simultaneously and deflecting them off course. The eyes of the jet trooper holding Ladybug flickered from focus to surprise, a moment before she punched him as hard as she could with an uppercut to the jaw. His head fell backward, he released her, and he tumbled over to fall to earth. A grunt told her that Cat Noir had likewise finished off his captor. Without thinking, she threw her yo-yo to him, which he caught in one hand while the other hand held onto his staff, which he had extended far enough to reach the ground.

They balanced precariously on the staff for a moment, her hanging below him, until an Akuma reached Ladybug and melted into her hair tie. "This doesn't seem like such a good idea," she said as the telepathic connection formed.

"Trust me," Impératrice Pourpre assured her. "I did this a million times with the older you and we never managed to destroy the world. This is one of the butterfly's other uses. I'm giving you the ability to control the air currents around you to fly. But don't stay up there too long. We need you down here."

"Got it. Thanks, Sabrina." Ladybug felt the air around her body and forced it to push her up toward Cat Noir, reeling in her yo-yo as she did so. She grabbed the back of his suit as he retracted his staff to a manageable size. Ladybug extended the air currents holding her up to cover him also, and they started descending in a tight spiral. Below them a pair of jet troopers were fighting with King Monkey. Cat Noir threw his baton at one of the jet troopers, hitting the jetpack, which shorted out. The baton ricocheted into the other trooper's head, sending him careening into the ground. King Monkey caught the baton and tossed it back to Cat Noir as they reached his altitude.

"Thanks for the assist!" he called, giving Cat Noir a high-five.

"No problem," Cat Noir replied. "If we didn't help, that would be a _cat_-astrophe worse than flying monkeys!"

Ladybug was distracted from their banter when a golden streak shot up at them. She quickly realized it was a man with brown wings holding a golden mace. He wound up with the mace and swung, right at Ladybug. Ladybug dropped 3 meters, putting her below him. She felt the edge of the mace brush her hair. Cat Noir spun his staff to deflect the mace which the new flying man swung at them.

"Any idea who or _what_ this is, Milady?" Cat Noir shouted over the wind.

"Not a clue!" she shouted back, twisting to spin around and kick the flying man in the face.

"I am the Shrieking Eagle!" he announced. "Wielder of the Eagle Miraculous!"

"Of course you are," Cat Noir retorted. "I would be surprised if you _weren't_ calling yourself something like 'Shrieking Eagle'!" He swung his staff at Shrieking Eagle's head, flipping it around as Shrieking Eagle moved to block with his mace. "The thing is–" Cat Noir jabbed his staff past Shrieking Eagle's defense and hooked it on a necklace he wore bearing a single white feather with golden strands. "–you messed with the wrong feline today!" He jerked his staff upward, and the necklace clasp broke. In an instant, Shrieking Eagle was bathed in golden light, de-transformed, and fell. Cat Noir reached out and grabbed the miraculous before it dropped out of his reach. A golden-brown Kwami with bird wings flew out of the feather in a flash of light.

"Ah! A Cat Noir! I haven't met one of _you_ in ages," the Kwami squawked. "I trust you want to _restore_ balance, unlike my former… master?"

"That sounds about right," Cat Noir replied, eyeing the Kwami curiously.

At that moment, Ladybug looked down to see a green speck fall to the ground 20 meters below them.

"No!" screamed Impératrice Pourpre through their telepathic connection. Out of the corner of her eye, Ladybug saw King Monkey wince as well. "Get to ground now! Enhancer is down and all my Akumas are about to de-charge."

Ladybug shared a look with Cat Noir as her control over the air currents disappeared and they began to fall. Without hesitating, Cat Noir put the eagle miraculous around his own neck. He turned to the Kwami and urgently asked, "What's your name and how can I use your ability?"

"My name is Atsaa," he replied, "and it's 'Fly High.'"

"Right," Cat Noir said. "Atsaa, Plagg, Unify!" As soon as the eagle miraculous had activated, giving his suit a golden tinge along the sides, Eagle Noir shouted, "Fly High." Wings sprouted from his shoulders and he pumped once, tightening his grip on Ladybug's arm as he did so. Their fall immediately stopped. Eagle Noir extended his staff toward King Monkey, who grabbed it as he fell past. Extending his staff in the other direction, he was also able to catch one of Chloe's volunteers. Another was just out of reach.

Ladybug looked up to see the tension in Eagle Noir's face. A vein in his neck bulged out from the strain. She threw her yo-yo in the air above them and shouted, "Lucky Charm!" She reached out and grabbed the red polka-dotted jetpack that appeared beside her yo-yo. Eagle Noir nodded and released her arm. As she fell, Ladybug slipped her arms through the straps and activated the jetpack, slowing her descent instantly. She did a midair somersault to face the ground and keyed the jetpack as fast as it would go. Ten meters from the ground she reached out and grabbed the volunteer's shoulder, turning to point the jets downward at the same time. Their descent slowed just enough, and they tumbled together to the ground. Ladybug sprawled in the grass of the mansion lawn, surrounded by the bodies of fallen fighters.

Eagle Noir landed next to Ladybug a moment later, rolled her over, and lifted her up to lean against his chest. He cradled her gently and asked, "Milady, are you okay?"

"Hmm… I'm always okay when you're with me, Kitty," she murmured, closing her eyes.

"Slow down there, Bugaboo. We're not done yet."

Ladybug shook her head to get rid of the cobwebs, pulled her legs under herself, and stood up. Eagle Noir rose with her. Queen Bee ran up to them at that moment, chased by a sentimonster bear. Eagle Noir extended his staff and braced it against the ground before throwing his mace. The mace took the bear's head off a moment before its torso was impaled on the staff. The sentimonster exploded in a shower of dust.

"We have got to stop that stupid Peacock already," Queen Bee groaned, massaging a stitch in her side. She put a hand on Ladybug's shoulder and said, "I'm glad you're alright."

"Sorry about your losses," Ladybug replied, looking around them. "Where is Ana?"

Queen Bee shrugged. "Everyone knew the risks coming in. As for Ana, she's over there; Impératrice Pourpre managed to re-Akumatize her before anything bad could happen."

"I should probably give this to you for safekeeping," Eagle Noir said, fingering the Eagle Miraculous. "Atsaa, Plagg, Divide." Atsaa flew out of the miraculous, and Cat Noir's suit returned to normal. "Thanks for the rescue," he told Atsaa, before he was sucked back into the miraculous when Cat Noir removed it and handed it to Queen Bee, who placed it in a pouch on her belt.

"I've got the Peacock," King Monkey declared, charging across the battlefield, using his Ruyi Jingu Bang to vault over obstacles. He shouted "Uproar," and threw the pair of dice he received towards where Peacock was fighting Miracle Girl. Miracle Girl dove to one side an instant before the dice reached her, allowing them to strike the distracted Peacock square in the forehead. Miracle Girl grabbed the Peacock brooch and yanked it off of Peacock's chest.

"Come on!" Queen Bee shouted, leading the way up the lawn. "We've got a hole in their defenses. We need to get inside before they regroup!"

Ladybug followed Queen Bee toward the house, with Cat Noir and Carasus hot on her heels. They reached the front door just as King Monkey and Miracle Girl arrived from the oppositer side of the battlefield.

"Cataclysm!" Miracle Girl shouted, before throwing her shield at the door like a discus. The green shield glowed black for an instant as it struck the door. The door crumbled to dust, and the shield deflected back to her hand.

"Mirage-Charm!" she called, swinging her staff toward the entryway. An orange ball of light flew out of the staff's end and formed into a rhinoceros, which charged through the doorway in front of them. Ladybug's eyes followed the Mirage-rhino in confusion. "Lucky Charm makes the Mirage solid instead of just an illusion," Miracle Girl explained. "Not quite the same as a sentimonster, but good enough."

Miracle Girl and Carasus held their shields in front as they led the way into the mansion. Looking past them, Ladybug saw the Mirage-rhino rampaging through the group of shock troopers who had been waiting in the foyer. Most were already on the ground; those still on their feet were running for cover behind the furniture. The Mirage-rhino raced after a shock trooper, slamming through the wall separating the foyer and dining room. The wall trembled at the impact, sending framed pictures crashing to the floor, a moment before the Mirage-rhino disappeared in a wave of plasma energy that shot out of the dining room. The barrage of plasma beams struck the compromised walls, shredding them as though they were made of paper. The upper floor of the mansion shook as the supports were cut apart and, with a groan, the walls collapsed.

Before any of them could react, the walls caved in around the heroes. King Monkey dove at Miracle Girl, pushing her out of the way a moment before the wall collapsed on the spot where she had been standing. She cried out in pain as she hit the floor, clutching her wrist. When the dust had cleared, all Ladybug could see of King Monkey was a single hand reaching out from the rubble. Carasus and Queen Bee both managed to avoid most of the falling debris. Carasus lifted his shield above his head and took cover as the wall collapsed around him, trapping him. Queen Bee's legs were caught under the falling ceiling.

Ladybug looked over at Cat Noir. Both of them were uninjured, covered in a fine layer of powdered plaster. The ceiling above the dining room had also collapsed, crushing the shock troopers who had been within.

Ladybug glanced down at the floor, trying to figure out their next move. Her eye landed on a tiny seam in the floor beneath where Cat Noir was standing. As she watched, the seam widened slightly. Time seemed to stand still as the trapdoor opened. Without thinking, Ladybug dove at Cat Noir's waist. He stumbled backward, just as the trapdoor fell away completely. Ladybug's feet landed where the floor should have been, only to fall straight through the trapdoor.

"Adrien!" she screamed, turning to look up at the rapidly-diminishing square of light through which she had fallen. Before she reached the bottom, the light had already disappeared as the trapdoor slammed shut once more.

* * *

_AN: "Atsaa" comes from a Navajo word for "eagle" ("Atsá"). As a side note, I assume I'm not the first to notice that all the Kwamis have a double letter in their name, right?_

_Impératrice Pourpre uses 2 different types of Akumas in this chapter. In this universe, the Butterfly can do 2 connected things. First, it can give someone (ordinarily a non-miraculous holder) superpowers to turn them into a "helper hero" (the normal use in the show). Second, it can grant additional powers to a miraculous holder (which she does for King Monkey and Ladybug, neither of whom is Akumatized in the traditional sense). This is alluded to in "Bugs Have to Stick Together" chapter 4 when Nooroo explains the heroic uses of the Butterfly Miraculous._


	13. Chapter 13

_AN: There are two chapters left after this one, followed by an Epilogue. The day after "Running out of Time" is completely published (next Wednesday), I will start publishing a One-Shot anthology series set in the regular universe after the events of "Running out of Time," the first chapter of which will pick up a couple hours after the Epilogue. Those won't publish regularly (though I will start with a few days in a row); they will be more of a break between the longer stories. One of those is already finished; the two after that are partially-written._

_To_ _GuenZhenXuan2020: That's more or less correct. I created the Dinosaur and Eagle Miraculous (along with all the other original ones mentioned back in chapter 8). Others may have had similar ideas, but this is my version of those miraculous. The holders of the Eagle and Dinosaur are both original characters (not that there was much to them, really). I had an idea at one point for Lila to be the Peacock Miraculous holder and make her more of a double/triple agent working for/again both Cat Bug Noir and Chloe, but that never panned out._

_To The Keeper of Worlds: Speaking of the razor's edge…_

* * *

"Marinette!" Cat Noir screamed, desperately digging his claws into the trapdoor through which she had fallen. The echoes of her last scream reverberated through his mind as he fought to pry the planks apart and follow. Around him he was only dimly aware of Queen Bee and Carasus starting to rouse themselves on the far side of the room, trapped as they were under debris, of Miracle Girl whimpering against the far wall. And then Ladybug's scream was no longer an echo; it was real. He could hear his Lady screaming her lungs out through the floorboards.

"Hang on, I'm coming, Milady!" he shouted, tearing a strip away from one of the boards. The screaming intensified, and Cat Noir realized he couldn't tear through the trapdoor fast enough.

"Cataclysm!" he shouted, slamming his hand to the floor directly onto the trapdoor.

"Wait! Adrien!" cried Queen Bee, holding a hand out to him as the trapdoor disintegrated under him. "We need a plan!"

Cat Noir was past planning at this point. His Lady was in danger, and she needed him. He folded his arms against his chest and closed his eyes as he hurtled feet-first down the chute, toward the screaming below him.

Cat Noir shot out into the brilliant light of his father's former lair, landed on the ground and rolled to his feet. He had no time to marvel at the changes that had been wrought to the lair which they had transformed in the Heroes' headquarters; his eyes were drawn instantly to the opposite side of the room, where Cat Bug Noir held Marinette by the neck with one hand, while the other hand was placing the second of Marinette's earrings into his own ears. Tikki appeared out of the miraculous momentarily – just long enough for Cat Noir's enhanced sight to make out the look of terror and revulsion on her face – before Cat Bug Noir looked at her and said, "Unify," and she was sucked back into the miraculous.

Cat Bug Noir roared and held his arms out wide as the additional power surged through him. Cat Noir ignored him, however, his eyes were transfixed on Marinette, who was still struggling limply in Cat Bug Noir's tightening grip.

"Let her go!" Cat Noir called, holding his staff in front of himself, squeezing tight enough to break it in half. "I won't let you hurt Milady! Now. Let. Her. Go."

"It's adorable that you think you have any control here, little Kitten," Cat Bug Noir mocked. "But it's time for you to face facts. You lost. I won. I allowed Chloe to steal my miraculous and the Book, knowing she would bring you to me. I allowed you into my house so I could take your miraculous and combine two sets of ladybug and cat miraculous. With double the power, I _will_ restore my Marinette! The universe cannot refuse me! Not when I offer _your_ universe in trade!"

"Not gonna happen, Old Man," Cat Noir retorted, tightening his grip on the staff. "Let her go!"

"You are in no position to make demands, kid!" Cat Bug Noir shouted. "I have the miraculous. I have your Marinette's miraculous. _I even hold your Marinette's life in my hands!_" He shook Marinette by the neck. "Now I will make this simple for you, child: give me your ring, and I will return your Marinette to you unharmed. If you don't?" He placed his right hand on Marinette's face, pressing his ring into her cheek so hard she whimpered and squeezed her eyes shut. "If you don't give me your ring, I will give her back to you in a vial!"

"No!" Cat Noir shouted. "You wouldn't dare! Not to Marinette!"

"There is _nothing_ I wouldn't dare for Marinette! Everything I have _done_ has been for Marinette! I slaughtered our false so-called friends for Marinette! I collected almost all the miraculous on the planet for Marinette! I moved heaven and earth, just to get to this moment, when I can restore my Marinette to me!" Marinette whimpered as Cat Bug Noir tightened his grip on her neck. "Now, are you going to make me destroy _your_ Marinette to restore my own, or are you going to give me that ring?"

"Plagg, Claws in," Cat Noir muttered, a moment before he was engulfed in light. Adrien looked down at the ring on his finger, avoiding the confused eyes of the Kwami hovering next to his shoulder, who silently dropped into Adrien's shirt pocket to find a piece of cheese. Such a small thing, to be worth so much. The miraculous had given him so much: freedom, an opportunity to do good, friends. Without the miraculous, he may never have truly met the wonderful girl to whom he had given his heart, who had given him her own heart in return. And now the very object which had given him the life he now enjoyed was the price to maintain that life. How could he hold onto the ring when it would mean Marinette's life?

And yet, as he looked up at Cat Bug Noir, he saw the terror and sadness in Marinette's eyes which were fixated on his own. Giving up his miraculous would throw this universe so far out of balance that nothing could restore it again. Giving up his miraculous would mean the cosmic destruction of their own universe. If they did not restore Tikki and Plagg to their universe to maintain the cosmic balance, everything they knew and loved would be destroyed. – even _if_ Cat Bug Noir didn't try to trade the destruction of their entire universe for the restoration of his wife.

But what was that next to Marinette's life? Adrien had been faced with that same choice before – Marinette's life or altering the balance of the universe to wake his mother – and he had not chosen to maintain balance; he had chosen Marinette. She was more important to him than his family – she _was_ his family. Surely he couldn't abandon Marinette now, even _with_ the fate of two universes hanging in the balance? Would he really want to return to the life he once knew, if that were even possible, knowing that Marinette was not in it?

And yet, would Marinette want him to sacrifice two universes just to save her life? The Marinette in this universe had been killed because she chose to save her husband. His own Marinette had been captured because she chose to push him out of the way and fallen into the trapdoor herself. She had made her choice. Marinette – both as herself and as Ladybug – always put the needs of others ahead of her own. She would never sacrifice someone else, even if it meant saving her own life. And she would always sacrifice her own life to save that of another.

Though it would tear him apart, Adrien knew what he had to do.

"I'm-I'm sorry, Milady," he said to Marinette. He saw a flash of despair in her eyes before turning on Cat Bug Noir. "I will _not_ give you my miraculous," he shouted. "Do your worst to us, but you will never win!"

Adrien's eyes found Marinette's, willing himself to drink in the sight, if it was to be the last time he ever saw his Lady. Her eyes shifted from despair to acceptance, and just as quickly to resolve.

"So be it, mangy Cat," Cat Bug Noir sneered. "Catacl-argh!"

Adrien jumped at the sound. He had been so focused on Marinette's eyes that he had not been watching her hand. The moment Cat Bug Noir had started speaking, she had mustered all her strength, reached up, and wrenched the ring from his finger. In the same motion, she lobbed it across the room toward him in a high arc.

Cat Bug Noir roared in rage as the black disappeared from his suit. He swung Marinette by the neck, throwing her across the room. She slammed into the wall and landed in a crumpled heap, motionless.

Adrien's eye caught the glint of the ring as it sailed through the air. He reached out and snatched it before it flew past him. "Plagg?" Adrien whispered, as the duplicate miraculous in his hand activated and an all-too-familiar Kwami burst out of it.

"The one and only!" Plagg called cheekily, spreading his arms and bowing in midair in front of Adrien.

"'Only'?" retorted Adrien's Plagg, phasing through Adrien's shirt and floating up to hover in front of the new Plagg.

"Great: now there's _two_ of them…" Adrien muttered to himself as the two Kwamis started eyeing each other suspiciously.

"You destroyed the world!" Adrien's Plagg said accusingly, poking the new one in the chest.

"Oh, please," the new one replied, crossing his arms. "We've done so much worse. Remember Atlantis? The dinosaurs?"

"Don't remind me. Longg and Rexx _still_ haven't forgiven me for the dinosaurs!"

"Plaggs, Plaggs, calm down," Adrien called, grabbing one in each hand. "We can worry about this later. In the meantime, what do we do about that!?" He pointed the Plaggs' faces at Old Adrien, who, in the absence of his cat miraculous had transformed into Double Bug Man.

"Your boy really made a mess of things, didn't he?" Adrien's Plagg observed conversationally.

"Considering that he lost his Pigtails _and_ their kitten, I think he was a little bit justified, don't you?" Old Plagg replied, shrugging. "Besides, did we _really_ need Portugal?"

"Some of my favorite cheese came from Portugal!"

Old Plagg arched an eyebrow at him. "What, that _queijo de Serra da Estrela you tried last century? I mean, it was good, but it's still no camembert."_

"Guys, you're missing the point," Adrien told them, shaking them for emphasis. "What do I do now? I'm just Cat Noir. I'm supposed to _protect_ my Ladybug at all costs. But I didn't," he pointed Old Plagg at the far wall where Marinette lay, unmoving, "and now he's got _two_ Ladybug miraculous! I'm just Cat Noir! I can't stop him."

"Why not?" answered Old Plagg, fixing him with a calm look.

"'The duty of the Cat Noir is to protect his Ladybug,'" Adrien quoted. "That's what Master Fu told me over the summer."

"Kid," Adrien's Plagg said, phasing through his hand and putting a hand on Adrien's cheek, "Fu told you everything _he_ knew about the role of the Cat Noir. We just never told the Guardians – and they never asked – everything there is to know about the Cat Miraculous. And they only scratched the surface of the true power of the Kwami of Destruction."

Old Plagg phased through Adrien's other hand and hovered in front of his face. "That's only _part_ of Cat Noir's role – protecting Tikki's user when he or she is preserving the balance of the universe."

"But when Tikki is being abused like _this_," Adrien's Plagg's eyes hardened as he glared across the room, "Cat Noir, the _Avatar of Destruction_, must balance her out, rescue her from the abuser, and restore the balance of the universe himself."

"What does that mean?" Adrien asked, looking between the two Plaggs.

"Let me make this simple for you," Old Plagg said, as both Plaggs turned to face Double Bug Man, hovered a half-meter in front of Adrien, and crossed their arms. "Kick his ass, kid."

"So what are you going to do, kiddo?" Double Bug Man demanded. "Your girl may have taken my ring, but it's only delayed the inevitable. I'll take those rings off your cold, dead body. Then I'll Cataclysm your Marinette for good measure. And then I'll use all four miraculous to restore my own Marinette!"

Adrien jammed the second ring onto his left hand, opposite his own miraculous. "You got one thing right," Adrien told him, clenching both fists and dropping into a crouch, a feral look in his eyes, "_If_ you take these rings it _will_ be off my cold, dead fingers! Plaggs… CLAWS OUT!"

* * *

_AN: Rexx is the Dinosaur Kwami. And yes, dragons in this universe aren't "mythical" creatures but actually existed and went extinct with the dinosaurs._

_Queijo de Serra da Estrela is a Portuguese cheese I found on a list of Portuguese cheeses. If you have a better delicacy Portuguese cheese for Plagg to miss after destroying Portugal, let me know._


	14. Chapter 14

_To Alyce Reide (if/when you get here): Thanks for reviewing a bunch of my stories yesterday! It's fun to use reviews to track people's progress through the story. You may have noticed I really like the cliffhanger endings, especially with Adrien transforming!_

_To The Keeper of Worlds: Oh, it is _definitely_ on in this fight!_

_To Rose Tiger: Yes, but _which_ Adrien? :D_

* * *

Adrien screamed at the surge of power coursing through his body from both hands. Over the last two years, he had become accustomed to Plagg's energy, the strength the miraculous gave him on activation. But this… this was on a whole new level – far beyond even his experience using the Eagle and Cat Miraculous together. Adrien spread his arms and flexed, testing his muscles as his suit formed over them. He felt strong enough to lift a building – or perhaps to tear it apart with his bare hands. With the power of both Plaggs, he could truly unleash destruction!

Double Cat Noir grabbed the baton from his right hip and extended it to staff length, giving it an assessing twirl as he did so. Across the room from him, Double Bug Man narrowed his eyes in anger and spun his yo-yo.

"You combined the miraculous, unbalanced your universe, and as if that's not enough, you threaten my universe, too!" shouted Double Cat Noir, tightening his grip on the staff. "You would murder my Marinette, after claiming that you loved your own? You are no better than Father!"

"Father?" scoffed Double Bug Man. "You would compare me to _him_? Father was weak! Father failed! I Cataclysmed him to dust _myself_ after Marinette's death!"

"No, you're right," Double Cat Noir ground out, baring his teeth. "You aren't Father. Father threatened the balance of the universe and tried to combine the miraculous for his own selfish ends, but he never killed to achieve his goal. You-you have become something _worse_ than Father! And now, I will _end you_!"

Double Cat Noir charged with a roar, holding the staff in front of himself with both hands. Double Bug Man raced to meet him, yo-yo swinging to his side. When several meters still separated them, Double Bug Man flung the yo-yo in front of himself, aiming for Double Cat Noir's legs. Double Cat Noir parried the yo-yo with his staff, using the same motion to swing the opposite end of the staff around at Double Bug Man's head. Double Bug Man ducked under the staff, and Double Cat Noir spun in midair, bringing the other end of his staff to bear on Double Bug Man's midsection. Double Bug Man caught the staff with his arm and held it against his side, swinging around and releasing Double Cat Noir to sail through the air behind him.

Double Cat Noir grunted and caught himself with his staff and hand, looking up just in time to dodge away from the yo-yo Double Bug Man threw at his head. He leapt into the air, swinging his staff downward with both hands, straight at Double Bug Man's head. Double Bug Man lifted his yo-yo shield to block the staff, angling it and stepping back so Double Cat Noir landed in front of him.

Double Cat Noir pushed against the yo-yo with both hands, but the shield refused to budge. Then he reached down with his left hand and found the second baton on his left hip, extended that, and brought it to bear on the yo-yo, turning the two staffs to form an "X" shape.

As Double Bug Man pushed back against the staffs, Double Cat Noir turned them in toward his body, wrapping the yo-yo's string around one staff. With a sudden jerk he pulled the yo-yo out of Double Bug Man's hand and flung it skidding across the room. Double Cat Noir quickly shortened both staffs to baton length, spinning them around in his hands as he did so.

"I always enjoyed baton fighting," he growled, striking out with his right baton at Double Bug Man's head.

"Please," retorted Double Bug Man, raising his left forearm to block the blow. "I'm you, remember? I know better! You were terrible with batons. You never won a single match with them!"

"Then there's no time like the present to figure it out!" Double Cat Noir grunted. He feinted high with his left baton just before bringing his right in from a lower angle. Double Bug Man moved to block each blow. Again and again Double Cat Noir attacked, each attack repulsed by Double Bug Man's defense.

Suddenly Double Bug Man stepped backward, pulling Double Cat Noir off-balance. He leaned forward, grabbed the baton in Double Cat Noir's left hand and wrenched it from his grasp, twisting around, elbowing Double Cat Noir in the gut, and pushing him backward in the same motion.

Double Cat Noir grunted and stumbled backward, just as Double Bug Man extended the staff and held it in front of himself one-handed. Double Cat Noir found the control and extended his own staff to the same length. He lunged forward, aiming his staff for Double Bug Man's exposed legs.

"Uh uh," Double Bug Man called, parrying the lunge effortlessly. "Striking below the chest is a penalty: point from you!" He swung around to slash at Double Cat Noir's back.

Double Cat Noir leapt into a back-flip, spinning himself around over the staff and landing on his feet as Double Bug Man's momentum carried him around, exposing his back. Double Cat Noir stabbed forward with his staff, only for Double Bug Man to sidestep and avoid the strike.

"Naughty Kitty," Double Bug Man mocked, dropping low. "Don't you remember? I know all your tricks because I was you. But–" while still in a crouch he swung his back leg forward, catching Double Cat Noir in the gut "–_you_ don't know all _my_ tricks."

Double Cat Noir stumbled backward, cradling his stomach with one hand. He fell to one knee and caught himself with his staff. Double Bug Man _did_ have every advantage in this fight: age, experience, strength. He knew everything Double Cat Noir could throw at him. Double Bug Man had retrieved his yo-yo and was spinning it in his left hand, the staff still held in his right.

"Lucky Charm!" Double Bug Man shouted, and a rocket launcher appeared above his head. Double Bug Man grabbed the rocket launcher, brought it to his shoulder, and fired in a single motion.

Double Cat Noir dove to his right and swung his staff one-handed like a bat in the same motion. He struck the rocket and deflected it to the left. The rocket continued to curve around and returned to Double Bug Man, who thrust his staff out to poke the nose cone before swinging his yo-yo as a shield. The rocket detonated, showering the cavern around them with shrapnel, which he deflected with the yo-yo-shield.

"C'mon, Runt," Double Bug Man called, slamming the end of his staff into the ground. "Time to put you down!"

Double Cat Noir, pushed himself to his feet with his staff and held it in front of himself. "I'm not the one getting put down today," he retorted. "Someone called Pest Control, and I'm the Exterminator!"

Double Cat Noir charged, spinning his staff and roaring in anger. He feinted a lunge at Double Bug Man's legs; when he moved the yo-yo to block it, he leapt and brought the staff down on his head. As he raised his staff to block the strike, Double Cat Noir pushed off the block and allowed his momentum to carry him over Double Bug Man's head. Before he landed, he planted his staff against the ground and kicked out with both legs into Double Bug Man's back, knocking him to the ground.

Double Bug Man hit the ground and allowed his momentum to carry him forward, pushing off with his hands and twisting in midair to land on his feet. "Impressive, Kitten," he grunted. He flicked his wrist, catching Double Cat Noir's ankle with his yo-yo. "Not impressive enough." He pulled on the yo-yo, pulling Double Cat Noir to the ground. "I'm going to kill you," he shouted, springing on top of him. "Then I'm going to take your miraculous." He slammed his staff down at Double Cat Noir, who lifted his own staff to parry. "Then I'm going to Cataclysm your girl for good measure after she stole my miraculous." He grabbed the staff out of Double Cat Noir's hands and threw it away. "Then I'm going to resurrect my wife!" He grabbed Double Cat Noir by the throat. "And you are _not_ going to stop me!" He slammed Double Cat Noir's head back against the ground.

Stars danced in front of Double Cat Noir's eyes from the blow. He grabbed Double Bug Man's hand with both of his own, fighting desperately to draw in a breath. As hard as he fought, however, he felt his strength flagging, the energy draining from his body. He closed his eyes. He had fought as hard as he could. He had tried to restore the balance, to save Tikki from his evil future doppelganger's abuse, as the Plaggs had told him to do. But he had failed. He had failed himself. He had failed Plagg. He had failed Tikki. He had failed Marinette. He had failed his entire universe.

As darkness clouded his vision, his last thought was the feel of jet black hair against his face, the smell of cinnamon and vanilla, the sound of her laughter and taste of her lips.

_Marinette_…

Double Cat Noir's eyes shot open. His vision was tinged with blackness. He mustered all the air left in his lungs and let out a primal roar, slamming both fists into the ground on either side of him. The ground shattered where he struck, sending debris flying into the air. He grabbed a handful of rock shards in one hand and threw it into Double Bug Man's face, causing him to shut his eyes, raising a hand to shield his face. Double Cat Noir braced his arms and jerked his knee up, into Double Bug Man's groin. With a sound like an explosion, Double Bug Man was thrown upward. Double Cat Noir braced his arms and brought both his knees up to his chest before kicking Double Bug Man as hard as he could in the chest. There was a sonic boom as Double Bug Man was thrown backward, over Double Cat Noir, losing his grip on both his yo-yo and Double Cat Noir's neck in the process. In the same motion, Double Cat Noir flipped to his feet. He reached up to massage his throat, forcing himself to take in a deep breath and hold it.

"What? How is that possible?" Double Bug Man wheezed, pushing himself to his knees.

"I wield the Miraculous of Destruction," Double Cat Noir declared, advancing on him, "powered by the Kwami of Destruction." He reached out toward the two staffs, which flew into his hands, contracting to baton length as they did so. "You threaten the balance of two universes. And now your reckoning has come!"

Double Cat Noir stomped his back foot, and a small explosion went off where his foot landed. The force propelled him into the air as he leapt, holding both batons above his head. "CATACLYSM!" he bellowed. Both batons hummed as the Cataclysm force resonated with them. Below him, Double Bug Man raised his hands to shield himself, a look of terror in his eyes. Double Cat Noir roared and slammed the two batons home into Double Bug Man's chest, pushing him to the ground in the process. As Double Bug Man hit the ground, the Cataclysm energy erupted from the staffs in a massive explosion. Double Bug Man crumbled to dust, both sets of earrings falling to the ground where his head had been. The tidal wave of energy released by the double Cataclysm detonated in a massive ball, ripping through the lair, through the mansion, and expanding beyond the mansion grounds to encompass all of Paris.

The blast threw Double Cat Noir backward, away from the crater where Double Bug Man had been. He twisted his body in midair and saw that he was sailing toward where Marinette still lay, immobile. He adjusted his body, angling himself toward her, and slammed both staffs into the ground in front of her, pulling himself down to crouch over her. He braced his legs, covering her as best he could with his own body, anchoring himself in place with the staffs. He extended the staffs to form a protective frame above them and catch the falling debris from the mansion's destruction.

Then Double Cat Noir shut his eyes tight and prayed for the chaos to end.


	15. Chapter 15

_AN: After this chapter, all that's left is the Epilogue. Wednesday I'll publish the first One-Shot in what I'm calling "An Adrienette Anthology" (the only thing the one-shots really have in common is that they focus on Adrien and Marinette, hence that's the only name that could really fit), which picks up a few hours after the Epilogue._

_To anonymousfriend27: Yeah… I started seeing "Double" about halfway through from all the "Double Bug Mans" and "Double Cat Noirs"!_

_To Speckleflower: Glad the climax lived up to the hype!_

_To Rose Tiger: Several of the One-Shots in the anthology will be continuing the story from "Running out of Time." The next multi-chapter story I publish (starting Friday) will actually be (in part) a follow-up to "Running out of Time." It was supposed to be a fun One-Shot for Valentine's Day, but needed more than just 1 chapter._

_To The Keeper of Worlds: Thank you! It felt right for Adrien to confront and overcome Old-Adrien, the worst-possible version of what he could potentially be. And there really wasn't anything more to be said by either of them after Adrien's last line (other than "Cataclysm," that is!)._

* * *

Marinette groaned. Her whole body ached. She tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids were heavy as lead. She could feel something on top of her, but when she tried to move her right hand to feel what it was, she cried out in pain.

"Don't move, Milady," a voice whispered, centimeters from her ear. She heard something rustling and creaking, and then an enormous grunt that was immediately drowned out by a cacophony of noise all around her.

"A-Adrien?" Marinette called, as loud as she could. Her voice came out barely above a whisper. She tried to suck in a breath, but her chest was wracked with pain and she let out a quiet sob.

"I'm sorry, Milady," Adrien's voice whispered. "Don't-don't try to move. Just let me get us out of here."

"O-Okay," Marinette whispered. "I trust you."

Marinette kept her eyes closed and instead focused on assessing her injuries. She could move the fingers on her left hand; that entire hand and arm felt intact. With a supreme effort she could force the fingers on her right hand to respond, but she bit her lip to keep from screaming at the stabs of pain shooting up that arm. When she tried to swallow, she nearly gagged on her tongue. She couldn't turn her neck more than a few degrees without feeling excruciating pain. After a few shallow breaths, Marinette tried to expand her lungs further, only to feel a stabbing pain all down the right side of her ribcage. She couldn't feel her legs at all below her hips.

"A-Adrien?"

"I'm here," Adrien grunted. Marinette forced herself to open her eyes and saw Cat Noir standing over her, using his staff to lever a rock twice his own size out of the way. The rock was propped up by an identical staff, extended far enough to reach the cavern wall on the far side of the cave. But above Cat Noir, Marinette saw nothing but clear blue sky.

"I don't know what's wrong," she finally whispered. "I can't feel my legs. I-I think I broke my back."

Cat Noir cursed under his breath. "Hang on, Milady," he said, reaching down and almost throwing the rock out of the way. He vaulted over the pile of rubble surrounding them, and Marinette heard him throwing things around several meters away. With an exclamation, he leapt back into view and landed on his hands and knees, straddling Marinette's chest. She had a brief glimpse of something red before she felt him affixing her earrings back in place in her ears. An instant later, two beams of light shot out of her earrings and merged into Tikki, who hovered right in front of her face.

"Oh, Marinette!" Tikki cried, dropping down to hug Marinette's cheek. "It's been far too long! Oh, how I've missed you!"

"Wait… are you the Tikki whose Marinette was killed?" Cat Noir asked, de-transforming. Two Plaggs appeared from the two rings he was wearing.

"Plagg!" Tikki shouted, grabbing the Plagg who had come out of the ring on Adrien's left hand. "You did it! You saved me!"

"Of course, Sugarcube," Plagg replied, squirming against her embrace. "I couldn't let my partner be used like that forever."

"I'm sorry about Adrien," she told him, squeezing him tighter.

Plagg wrapped his arms around her reluctantly. "Yeah, he was a good one… until he lost your girl," Plagg said, his voice quivering. "I'll always miss the boy he once was. But as for the monster he became… The Maw can take him," he spat.

"Guys, guys," Adrien said, his hand on Marinette's cheek. "As touching as this reunion is, can you do something for _my_ Marinette?"

Tikki looked closer at Marinette and gasped. "What happened to her?"

"Take a wild guess, Sugarcube," Plagg retorted bitterly. "My boy happened to her."

"Right, well… let's get to work." With that, Tikki grabbed Plagg by the hand and dropped into Marinette's chest. She felt sudden warmth blossoming from her ribcage and spreading out from there to encompass her entire body. She sucked in a breath, and was relieved to feel the shards of bone that had lodged themselves in her lungs disappear. Her neck gave a tremendous crack and her head twisted back into proper alignment.

As this was happening, over the sound of blood rushing through her ears, Marinette heard Adrien and the other Plagg having a quiet conversation above her.

"I need to find _our_ Tikki and Ladybug Miraculous, but we need to get all of this out of the way if we're going to get Marinette out of here," Adrien was saying. "And I can't do it all alone."

"Kid, when you've got me, you're not alone," Plagg answered, patting his cheek. "Leave Pigtails to me. You go find _my_ partner."

Adrien climbed out of the pit Marinette could finally see that he had hollowed out around her, and Plagg drifted over to one side of it. "You'd better close your eyes," he told her, concentrating on the rubble surrounding them.

Marinette obeyed and squeezed her eyes shut as tight as she could. There was a whooshing sound, and she opened her eyes again. A section of the debris pile had disappeared, leaving nothing but fine dust that caught in the breeze and swirled away. Plagg shook in midair, blowing off the dust that had settled on him, before starting to lick his paws.

"Well fine, maybe I should have let _you_ do all the work, then," Adrien commented, climbing through the gap that Plagg had created.

"You realize there's a chance that I could make a volcano erupt right under our feet if you let _me_ handle it all, don't you, kid?" Plagg retorted.

"You mean there's something _worse_ than a double Cataclysm? Alright, alright, let's not destroy this world any worse than we already have," Adrien joked. He knelt next to Marinette and dropped a pair of earrings in her hand, whereupon the miraculous activated and Tikki appeared. She dropped into Marinette's palm next to the earrings, curled into a ball, and started shivering. Marinette gave Plagg a look, and he dropped next to Tikki and put his paw on her head.

"Tikki takes this kind of abuse a lot harder than most other Kwamis," Plagg explained sadly. He wrapped his arms around Tikki protectively. "Normally if one of us is used for evil, it's my miraculous, and she and her chosen have to save me. This is the first time in a millennium our roles have been reversed."

Marinette winced as she sat up. Her legs still refused to cooperate. Adrien guided her to rest her back against a piece of wall that had fallen from the upper stories of the mansion. Marinette cupped her hands around the two Kwamis as Adrien slid down to sit next to her and wrapped both his arms around her protectively. "Is there anything I can do for her?" Marinette asked Plagg.

"She'll be okay in time," he replied, rubbing Tikki's back gently. "She was only used by that monster for a few minutes before we saved her. It will be harder on the other Tikki: experiencing the death of a chosen, only to immediately be put to evil use for over a decade? It will take a long time to recover from that."

Marinette suddenly _felt_ her legs, and pulled her knees up to her chest. A moment later the other Tikki and Plagg appeared from her hips and flew up to hover in front of their faces. "We repaired everything we could," Tikki squeaked, "but we couldn't give you any more energy since ours is so low."

The two Kwamis collapsed into Marinette's lap as Adrien shifted to kneel next to her and, with one arm still around her shoulders, slipped the other arm under her knees and lifted her up. Marinette cradled the four Kwamis in her hand, alongside her earrings, and wrapped her other arm around Adrien's neck, resting her head on his chest and sighing in contentment.

"I'm sorry," Adrien whispered, so softly Marinette nearly missed his words.

"Why are you sorry, Kitty?"

"I thought I'd failed you," he answered, his lip quivering. "I could have saved you. I almost _did_ hand over my ring to save you. But I didn't. And you nearly died."

Marinette shifted her hand onto Adrien's cheek and turned his face to look at her. "You have nothing to apologize for," she told him. "Cat Bug Noir gave you the same choice he had faced – throw the universe out of balance to save the girl you love – and you made the other choice. You could have become him, you could have become your father, but instead you stayed yourself. You remained the boy I love. If anything, _I_ should be apologizing to you. I've been feeling guilty for what _you_ might do, and I've been pushing you away."

"You're not mad at me? I thought–"

"_I_ was afraid you were going to hand over your miraculous to save me," she told him. "I thought you might do all of this, and it would be my fault. I'm glad you didn't. I-I'm sorry for ever doubting you."

"You don't have to put it all on yourself, Milady."

She looked up into his eyes and was surprised to see tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Then he shifted her in his arms and lifted her head to rest on his shoulder. Marinette moved her hand to the back of his head and drew his face down to her own. Their lips met and she kissed him as deeply as she could.

When they broke apart, Marinette looked into Adrien's eyes and said, "I love you, my Prince."

"I love you, too, Princess."

"And I love both of you!" Chloe called out, picking her way through the rubble toward them, guiding Ana with an arm around her shoulder. Ana still cradled her wrist. Looking past them, Marinette saw a small crowd clustered near the far wall.

"King Monkey," Chloe explained, seeing where she was looking. Ana's breathing hitched, and Chloe squeezed her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Marinette said as Adrien set her on her feet.

"He knew the risks," Chloe replied. "You gave Kim a purpose once again. If he had to die, he would agree: better to die fighting than live hiding.

"Thank you," she went on. "We owe you a debt we can never repay. But it's time for you to return to your own time."

"Hang on," Marinette told her, shaking her head. "There are still a couple things we need to do first." She reached up and removed the earrings she was wearing, switching them out with those in her hand. Then she turned to Ana. "Ana Lahiffe, daughter of Carapace and Rena Rouge, adopted daughter of Queen Bee, _and_ goddaughter of Ladybug and Cat Noir, will you accept the Ladybug Miraculous and swear to use it only for good, to preserve the balance of your universe?"

"M-me?" Ana asked, staring wide-eyed at the earrings Marinette held out to her. Behind her, Marinette saw a look of pride mingled with sadness flit across Chloe's face.

"You," Marinette confirmed. "I can think of no one better than you."

"I accept." Ana took the earrings and immediately replaced her homemade ones.

Marinette nodded to Adrien, who immediately reached to remove the ring from his left hand. Before he did so, however, Old Plagg drifted over to Old Tikki and told her, "Well, I'll see you soon enough, I suppose."

Old Tikki giggled. "You're not getting away from me that easily, you stinky cat!"

Old Plagg was sucked back into the ring as Adrien placed it in a box that Chloe held out to him. "Thanks, buddy," Adrien whispered, so quietly that only Marinette could hear.

"The two of you will need to choose a new Cat Noir sooner than later," Marinette told Chloe and Ana. "You will need your partner by your side if you're going to restore balance to your universe." She leaned into Adrien. "Make sure you choose carefully; you'll be stuck with him!

"Now there's one last thing to do: Tikki, Spots on!" Marinette called. Ana transformed simultaneously in front of her. Ladybug grinned at seeing her doppelganger; their suits were very similar, though Ana's hair remained in a single ponytail. She nodded to Ana-Ladybug, and they both threw their yo-yos in the air at the same time, shouting "Miraculous Ladybug!"

A swirl of magic emerged from the two yo-yos and merged together into a massive red cloud which spread out in all directions above the destroyed mansion. However, its effects were quickly hidden from their view as the mansion repaired itself. The debris strewn around the cavern reformed into the original furniture and walls, which returned to their original positions as the floors were repaired. Ladybug and her companions were left standing in the cavern that had once been the Heroes' headquarters beneath the repaired Agreste Mansion. A small cloud of magic drifted down and wrapped around Ana-Ladybug's wrist before dissipating.

Carasus separated from the crowd around the now-visible body of King Monkey and ran over to them. "Wayzz, Kaalki, Divide," he said. "Kaalki, Dismount." Max held up the Turtle Miraculous bracelet on his wrist. "Look!" He grinned. "The damage has been repaired! I had estimated only a 17% probability of the damaged miraculous being restored by a double-Miraculous Ladybug. Since this one has been, however, I estimate a 94% probability of all the miraculous being repaired!"

"They might not all be completely fixed," Ladybug told them. "I have no idea what using two Miraculous Ladybugs at once did. But hopefully the damage to your world is at least reduced, even if everything isn't fully restored. But you're going to have your work cut out for you," Ladybug continued, looking at Chloe. "The Kwamis whose miraculous were destroyed aren't gone. They can't interact with the world until you create new miraculous for them, but I know you can do that – with some help from your new Ladybug!"

"Don't worry, sweetie," Chloe informed her, wrapping her arm around Ana-Ladybug affectionately. "I'll be by her side every step of the way. We'll find a way to replace the destroyed miraculous, and we'll rebuild the Orders of the Guardians."

"I never would have thought I'd say _this_," Ladybug grinned, hugging Chloe tightly, "but I can't think of anyone better to be the new Guardian! But now, it's time for us to return home."


	16. Epilogue

_AN: This is the end of "Running out of Time." However, the main continuity story will pick up tomorrow with "An Adrienette Anthology," the first chapter of which takes place a couple hours after this Epilogue._

_To GuenZhenXuan2020: Unfortunately not. The double Miraculous Ladybug repairs a lot of the damage, but not everything gets a magical fix; I'm not even sure if _Portugal_ was restored by it! This Epilogue will confirm it, but all those who died (Marinette, Ivan, Alya and Nino, Alix, Mylène, Kim, Adrien himself…) are still dead._

_To The Keeper of Worlds: As you wish!_

* * *

**Present Day**

Chloe tapped her foot impatiently, staring at the café's front door. Beside her, Alya was still wringing her hand nervously and pacing, taking five steps in one direction, pivoting on her heel, and retracing her steps in the opposite direction.

"If you keep that up, you're going to wear a path in the cement," Chloe told her, not taking her eyes off the café entrance.

Alya stopped and turned to glare at her. "They've been in there a really long time," she muttered. "If this goes wrong, I'm blaming you."

"Maybe it's been so long because they're talking?" Chloe said hopefully. "Maybe talking a long time is a good thing…"

"I can't believe I let you talk me into doing this to them, Chlo."

"Oh, come on, we both know they've been miserable this week," Chloe retorted, turning to face her. "A _blind_ woman could tell they were miserable this week!"

"Well, yeah, but–"

"And we want them to be happy, don't we?"

"Of course, but–"

"And we know they are perfect for each other."

"Yes, but–"

"So we needed to make them sit down and work it out together."

"Chloe!"

She blinked. "What?"

"I-I think it worked." Alya nodded over at the café. Chloe turned to follow where she was looking, and saw Adrien walking out with his arm around Marinette's back, holding her to himself tightly. Marinette, for her part, had her arms around his chest and was leaning her head on his shoulder as though she was afraid he would disappear.

Chloe's jaw dropped on seeing them looking so… comfortable. So familiar. The last time she'd seen them, they could barely look at – let alone speak to – each other! "How-how long were they _in_ there?"

Alya didn't respond for a moment; Chloe glanced over to see a similar expression on her face to the one that she'd worn. Alya slapped her cheek and checked her phone. She blinked at it in confusion before she smacked it against her palm several times and checked it again. She looked up at Chloe in surprise. "It was only five minutes!"

"So then what–"

Chloe cut off as Adrien and Marinette crossed the street and approached them.

"Hi, girls!" Marinette called out, smiling brightly.

"Um, hi," Chloe answered. She and Alya stood stock still next to each other, eyes wide. "So, um, how are you?"

Marinette looked up at Adrien, who grinned at her and said, "Fantastic!"

"And it's all thanks to you," Marinette added, giving Chloe a teasing smirk.

"You're… welcome?" Chloe replied, nonplussed. She gave them a suspicious look. "But what happened in there?"

"We took your advice," Adrien answered, winking at her. "We talked a lot. We suited up and went a few rounds. We even did some other things." Marinette elbowed him in the ribs and blushed.

"You did all of that? In five minutes?" Alya wondered. Her eyebrows disappeared into her hairline.

"What can I say?" Adrien joked. "We work fast!"

"We're going back to my house for dinner," Marinette told them, squeezing Adrien tight. "We'll see you in school tomorrow!"

"Thanks for everything, Chloe!" Adrien added over his shoulder. "All of this is thanks to you!"

Chloe and Alya stared after them as they strolled down the street together. They turned at the next corner and disappeared from view, but the two girls continued to stare after them.

Finally, Chloe turned to Alya and said, "See? I told you it would work!"

* * *

**Twenty Years in the Future**

Chloe and Ana stood together beneath the Miraculously-restored Arc du Triomphe, looking at a small memorial to all the heroes killed by Cat Bug Noir etched into the base of one of the pillars – a list that had become considerably longer with the addition of those murdered in the decade-long Purge and killed in the final battle. Chloe knelt and traced the names. So many friends, all dead at the hand of her oldest and best friend. Her finger finally came to rest over those of "Nino Lahiffe" and "Alya Lahiffe."

"You would be so proud of your daughter, guys," Chloe whispered, fighting back the tears she'd held in for 12 years, tears that finally threatened to fall. "I tried to keep her safe as best I could, but she's so like you: always running into the thick of things, trying to help others. She's turned into a wonderful young woman, just the hero we always dreamed she would be. I'll still watch out for her and help her as best I can, of course. But I hope – wherever you are – you are happy and know how much we still love you and miss you."

Chloe stood up and stepped back from the memorial, wiping her eyes with a sleeve as she did so. She wrapped an arm around Ana and squeezed tight. Ana put her own arms around Chloe and hugged her back.

"Are you alright?" Chloe asked, looking down at the reddish-brown hair affectionately.

"I guess," Ana whispered. "I'm still relieved that we won, but now it's finally sinking in just how much work we have left to do. The responsibility: it's – it's overwhelming."

"You can do it." Chloe planted a kiss on her forehead. "I'm sorry for not seeing how strong you are sooner. But I am so very proud of the hero you've become."

Ana looked up at her, blinked back her tears, and smiled. "Thanks. Now come on, Mom. We've got a partner to find and a world to fix!"

* * *

_To answer the question before it's asked, I have no definite plans to write stories set in this alternate future any time soon. I have ideas for what happens next, as well as some events from the Purge, but I'm going to focus more on the "Prime Universe" for the foreseeable future. However, that's not to say that Ana (either as Miracle Girl or as "Ladybug 2039" alongside a new "Cat Noir 2039") couldn't visit the "Prime Universe" at some point in the future. If you like the alternate-future characters or want to see more of the "2039 Universe," let me know in a review!_


End file.
